


Strawberry Fields

by RedhathackerSin



Category: Bleach, RWBY
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Ichigo is OP
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2018-12-22 10:05:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 40,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11965134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedhathackerSin/pseuds/RedhathackerSin
Summary: When Ichigo and company try and return to the World of the Living after invading Soul Society, something goes wrong. Last they checked, the moon was still whole! Now they must fight in a world of monsters, trying to protect that honest soul.





	1. Let Me Take You Down

Kurosaki Ichigo blinked as he stepped out of the Dangai and into what was supposed to be the world of the living. Immediately he noticed that he and his friends had apparently been dropped about twenty meters above the ground.

Luckily all of them had gone through quite the ordeals and had come out stronger for it, so they were able to land rather easily, although Ichigo did catch Orihime as she fell from the sky. The dark orange haired girl blushed at being held bridal style, but a soft thank you as he put her back on her feet showed that she appreciated the gesture from the substitute Shinigami.

“This could be a problem, Kisuke was supposed to be here to pick us up. Why hasn’t he come yet?”

Ichigo shook his head as he looked down at his second real mentor. He was never going to be able to get used to her deep voice while she was in her feline form.

“I’m also pretty sure that Karakura was a city last I checked, not a moonlit forest.”

Yoruichi harrumphed as she gazed up into the sky, but Ichigo felt that something might be very _very_ wrong when the black cat froze and her jaw dropped open in astonishment.

“I think we might have more problems than merely being in a forest, Kurosaki.”

Ichigo glanced over at their resident Quincy who was looking up at the sky with a conflicted expression on his face, as were Orihime and Chad. Sighing, he closed his eyes and prepared for the next round of crazy that was his life before he looked up at the night sky along with everyone else and froze.

Okay, last he checked the moon had definitely not been broken like that. He was pretty sure that the damn thing was whole when they had left. Did the Living World get invaded by Piccolo while they were in Soul Society?

Deciding that he would just have to not be impressed and deal with something was more difficult than he had thought.

“Well, that’s something you don’t see every day.”

His response was a flat look from Yoruichi and Ishida, while both Orihime and Chad were still gazing in disbelief at the moon.

“So how the hell did Geta-Boshi break the moon while we were away, some funky thing that Aizen did?”

Yoruichi rolled her eyes at the orange haired Shinigami.

“I don’t think this is Kisuke’s work. Even he’s not quite this flashy when he tries for crazy experiments.”

Before Ichigo could respond to that, Orihime piped in.

“Oh, oh! Yoruichi-san!”

She was even raising her hand and fidgeting as she tried to get their attention. Well, he supposed that the excitable girl had always been like that for as long as he had known her. She also seemed to have bounced back from the broken moon.

“Did we somehow travel to a different dimension where people unlock their spirit powers to fight monster and go to fighting schools, where the moon was somehow broken ages ago?”

Ichigo raised a finger to refute that statement, but ended up placing a hand on his chin in thought.

“Honestly wouldn’t be the craziest thing to happen these past few weeks.”

Orihime beamed at him, while Ishida merely sighed and pushed up his glasses.

“Regardless of whether or not that theory is true, we need to see if there’s any civilization near us. We can determine our next move from there. I’d rather we not get into a drag out brawl like we did with the Shinigami.”

Ichigo shrugged as the others nodded at Ishida’s logic. Perhaps it was best to stay on the down low, but if he needed to fight he wasn’t going to hold back and die just because they were supposed to lay low.

“I guess that’s cool and all, but does anyone sense any reiatsu that we might be able to track back to civilization?”

Ishida rolled his eyes as the moonlight glinted off his glasses.

“Not everyone is a Neanderthal when it comes to sensing reiatsu like you Kurosaki, the nearest form of civilization I can feel is in that general direction.”

So saying the Quincy indicated the direction he was suggesting with a gesture.

“Well, I suppose some reconnaissance is in order, I’ll meet you all over there, hopefully by sunrise. Be careful out here, we’re not sure what’s lurking in the shadows.”

Her piece said, Yoruichi disappeared in a shunpo.

“Well, I guess we can make our way to that civilization. It’s got to be better than where we are now.”

The others nodded and they began to trek after Yoruichi, although at a much more sedate pace. If they wanted to find out anything, finding humans was going to be their priority. Ichigo glanced at the night sky and noticed that it was steadily becoming a deep purple signaling the pre-dawn. At least they’d have some better light in a little bit.

* * *

Ruby Rose felt a thrum of excitement as she examined her weapon by her locker. There would be no more awkward talking, or interactions with a certain white themed girl. Now she could let her baby do the talking.

As she hummed to herself, she heard footsteps approaching, but paid them no mind as she once more made sure that everything was in working order(even though she cleaned her baby religiously).

“What’s got you in such a good mood sis?”

Ruby turned her silver eyes to the person speaking and smiled at her blonde haired sister.

Yang was fairly tall and was wearing her signature style that she had been sporting for awhile now. On her wrists lay Ember Cecilia, and it was obvious that the blonde was raring to go and fight some Grimm.

“I’m just glad that we’re finally doing initiation. No more awkward talk, I can let my baby do the talking now.”

Ruby grinned as she cradled Crescent Rose to her. She would definitely make better impressions as they were fighting as opposed to simply trying to awkwardly make small talk, or blow people up. Definitely no more blowing people up. That should be a new rule for her. Maybe even her number one rule.

Shaking her head, she glanced up when she heard a soft meow that carried through the mostly empty locker room. Most students had gone for breakfast or had been preparing for the Initiation somewhere else so the locker room was feeling a bit devoid of life as she had been preparing.

When she looked up she was able to see a black cat with yellow eyes (huh, they looked kind of like that Blake girl’s) lazily looking down on them as its tail swished back in forth in the dust motes from the sun beams.

“Ohhhh, a kitty! I wonder if it is anyone’s?”

Yang merely let out a quiet huff of laughter at her sister.

“Pretty sure most of the students didn’t try and bring their pets to Beacon, Ruby.”

Ruby gave a small pout to her sister as she tried to coax the cat into coming down.

“You know we would have totally brought Zwei if we had the chance. He woulda made an awesome fighting dog!”

Yang just shook her head as the cat decided to jump to one of the lockers and slink out of the room. Sighing, Ruby made sure everything was in place before she and her sister began to make their way out of the room.

However, before they left, Yang made sure to make some sort of comment to Jaune as they walked by the blond sword and shield wielder. He let out a sorta pathetic groan in Ruby’s opinion, but then again she was pretty sure she had seen Pyrrha Nikos spear him. Well, she supposed getting some sort of attention from such a famous person was better than no attention.

Eventually she realized that she had been running on autopilot and they had reached the cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forrest. Ruby listened to Ozpin’s lecture and prepared herself for the test. Although she almost cracked into pieces at the mention of when and how they were finding their partners (today and the first person who they made eye contact with), she gave one last check over her weapon and attire. She was going to need both if she was going to stick the landing!

As the countdown began and more and more students began to be launched into the air, she noticed Yang pull out a pair of aviators and give a small salute to her fellow blond who was at the end and looked to be freaking out a bit.

Ruby felt a stab of pity for Jaune, but he had to be ready for these kinds of things if he wanted to be ready to attend Beacon. However, she soon wasn’t thinking about that at all as it was her turn to be launched.

She bent her knees and gave a bit of an extra spring as she launched, relishing the wind in her face rushing by. Taking a breath to steady herself, she unfurled Crescent Rose and got to work. 

* * *

Ichigo roamed a critical eye over his three friends (well two friends and a frenemy) and was sure that they were beginning to feel the effects of their impromptu hike.

They had been walking for hours now, without food or water and while Ichigo was basically a solidified spirit and could mostly ignore those kinds of things, everyone else was not. He supposed this forest was bigger than they had first thought, or Ishida had completely misjudged just how far they would have to walk to be able to get to the civilization that he had insisted was in the direction they were walking.

“Are you sure we’re not lost?”

Ishida caught his breath as he glared at the orange haired Shinigami and hissed out.

“Ask me again, Kurosaki, and see me restrain myself from strangling you.”

Ichigo held up his hands in a placating gesture. He didn’t need to be fighting his friends in addition to the strange monsters that they had run into while they were on their trek.

About an hour into their forced march, they had stumbled upon a wide clearing. They had decided to rest there for a few minutes, but apparently this wasn’t the best of ideas as they had been ambushed by strange hollow like creatures.

They looked somewhat like wolves, although they were bipedal and had bone white masks. Their glowing red eyes might have been menacing to people who hadn’t dealt with Hollows and the like before, but they weren’t very intimidating to the four teenagers in the clearing.

There were around twenty of them, but they were only about as dangerous as a low level Hollow would be, and between himself, Chad, and Ishida, they had dispatched the lot relatively easily and quickly. Hell, even Orihime had taken down one, but Ichigo wasn’t sure if that was simply because she was slightly bored.

However, that had been quite a while ago and ever since then they had had to take out a few more groups of those monsters. Ichigo was still feeling totally fine, the stamina/reiatsu freak that he was, but the others seemed to be approaching a more weary state.

Ichigo was going to suggest that they take another quick break, when the sounds of gunshots echoed throughout the otherwise quiet forest. Ichigo also thought he might have heard someone shouting with glee as those shots were being fired.

It was with some trepidation that Ichigo realized that the noise was getting closer to their position and that it was coming from above.

“Incoming!”

Ichigo glanced up and dodged out of the way as a girl fell from the sky and rolled up into a loose boxing position, if Ichigo was getting his Martial Arts right.

There was a moment of silence as the girl looked around at the four of them and Ichigo took the chance to study her.

She was wearing black shorts with a belt of ammunition on it, boots, and socks that had one flopping down towards her ankle while the other was pulled up towards her knee. She had on a shirt that exposed her midriff and had a yellow undershirt. She rounded out her outfit with an orange scarf tied around her neck.

With a flick of her wrist, which Ichigo noted had some sort of gauntlets on them, she brushed her long mane of blonde hair from her face and Ichigo was able to meet lilac eyes behind shaded aviators as they looked around at the other four teens.

Before any of them could speak, the blonde raised her gloved hand in greeting.

“Yo! I guess all of you already got your partners for the test huh?”

Ichigo was about to respond, questioning what the hell test she was talking about, but Ishida beat him to it.

“Indeed.”

Ichigo glanced over at the white clad Quincy and he gave a small almost imperceptible shake of the head. This was the first person they had met so far, and apparently the Quincy was going to fish for some information.

“Well, guess I’ll have to continue along by myself for the time being. Need to find a partner and all to fight the Grimm with!”

Ichigo filed that statement away in the back of his mind as Orihime looked as though she didn’t like the idea of the blonde girl leaving without them.

“Oh! How about you stick with us for a bit, it’s better to be in a bigger group and fight monsters than to fight them on your own!”

The blonde let her glasses slide down and considered Orihime for a moment before she gave an easy grin.

“I guess you’re right. I’ll just partner up with the next person that comes along.”

However, before any of them could move, there was a menacing growl and the five teens glanced around themselves. Ichigo gave a small curse in his head as he noticed that they were now surrounded by what looked like bear monsters.

Sighing, he reached up and grasped Zangetsu, while the others got into their preferred fighting stances, definitely some sort of boxing for the blonde.

For a moment, neither side moved. Then, the blonde took off and began laying into the bears. Ichigo gave a small shrug as he kept an eye on the girl. If he needed to step in he would, but it looked like she could take care of herself.

He cut down about three in the time it took her to kill one, but she was pretty efficient with those gauntlets and apparently they were also some type of gun as she wailed on the bears with bullets as well.

Things were going fine, but suddenly, Ichigo felt the girl’s reiatsu shift and he looked over and almost gaped as he saw that she had apparently caught fire and was wailing on the bears even harder. He also noticed that her eyes seemed to have turned red. Just as he was about to step in as an even bigger bear came barreling through the forest, the blonde giving a scream of challenge, the thing keeled over, dead.

Ichigo felt an eyebrow raise in question at that as he looked behind the bear to notice a new girl who had entered the fray.

She was even paler than the first girl, and was wearing a black and white outfit. However, her defining traits were definitely the black hair and amber eyes, ones that looked quite a bit like Yoruichi’s. Ichigo’s own brown eyes narrowed at that, were they dealing with another shapeshifting cat?

He came back to the conversation as he glanced around and nodded in satisfaction that everything around them was dead.

“I coulda handled him.”

The new girl smiled before she gazed over to the other four.

“And who are your other friends?”

Ichigo’s own eyes narrowed under the scrutiny of the newcomer, but the blonde merely chuckled as she sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.

“Well, about that… we were just about to introduce ourselves, but then we had to fight the Grimm.”

The black haired girl merely gazed unerringly at the blonde, who huffed and turned to the rest of them.

“So… introductions! Hi everyone, my name’s Yang, Yang Xiao Long, and this here’s Blake, we just became partners for the next four years at Beacon!”

Ichigo gave a small incline of his head.

“Kurosaki Ichigo.”

Apparently his own introduction was the gateway for the others as they followed after.

“Inoue Orihime!”

This was accompanied with a small bow and wave.

“Ishida Uryuu.”

Ishida merely pushed his glasses up his nose, the sunlight reflecting off of them.

“Yasutora Sado, but call me Chad.”

The two newer girls looked up at Chad and gave a small nod.

“Well now that everyone’s been introduce we can begin to look for the relics!”

The four teens who were not part of the initiation glanced at each other before nodding their agreement with the cheerful blonde. Ichigo made sure to note that Blake seemed a bit more mistrusting of them as she narrowed her eyes. She must have caught their quick look.

“I don’t think I remember seeing any of you last night in the ballroom, and I’d say that you all definitely stand out, especially you, Chad.”

The four teens froze at that. However, it seemed that Chad was the one to get the ball rolling this time.

“I generally don’t like crowds, so I was wandering around last night.”

Well, if that wasn’t an awesome lie while telling the whole truth, Ichigo didn’t know what was. Technically they had been wandering around last night, Chad just didn’t’ mention exactly where they were during those wanderings.

“Sounds good to me, let’s get a move on, we’re burning daylight!”

With a shake of his head, Ichigo followed after the two girls as they began to head what he assumed was north, but who knew. After all, they were in a different dimension, it could be south for all he cared.

* * *

Ozpin frowned into his coffee mug. He had been watching the various partners meet, and had taken a particular interest in Ms. Xiao Long and Ms. Belladonna. They had both been ones to watch out for in the first place, talented in their own rights, but the mysterious group of four that they had met up with was the real reason he was so interested.

Try as he might, he was sure that he had not seen those four teenagers before and they definitely left an impression. He glanced over to his stern faced cohort, and noted she was furiously going through her scroll to find any kind of information on the group.

“I must say, I wasn’t expecting to randomly be infiltrated by a group of teens right when we were beginning our Initiation. Have you been able to get any kind of identification on them, Glynda?”

Glynda frowned in consternation as she closed her scroll and focused her attention on the Headmaster.

“No matter how much I search I can’t find a trace of transcripts or acceptance on our part for those four.”

As she was saying that, the video monitors that they were using switched to the odd pairing of Mr. Arc and Ms. Nikos. That was one that Ozpin hadn’t really been betting on, but it seemed that the duo were getting along well despite their obvious experience differences.

“And as for Mr. Arc, I’m not sure that he is ready for this level of combat, Headmaster. If I didn’t know any better I’d say he snuck in here somehow.”

Ozpin took a slow sip of his coffee at his cohort’s worry, but decided against truly enlightening her. Besides, although Mr. Arc’s level of ability was still in question, the four mysterious teens were very much the priority for Beacon’s Headmaster.

“Be that as it may, the other four are much more worrying. They showed up from nowhere and seem to be quite skilled to be keeping up with two of our more promising Beacon applicants. In fact-”

Ozpin paused the video as he watched the orange haired youth wearing the black attire effortlessly cut down about three Ursa in the time it took Ms Xiao Long to defeat one.

“-I’d say that they might even be holding back.”

Glynda looked as though she was going to respond to Ozpin’s musings, but before she could, a deep voice rang out near them.

“Well, well. This is an interesting set up you two have here. Have I finally run into the head honcho of this place?”

Glynda gave a start at the voice, but Ozpin merely looked around in curiosity, not having seen anyone on the cliffs with himself and Glynda.

“If you’re looking for a human sized person, you’re gonna be disappointed, look further down.”

Ozpin blinked at that odd comment, but complied and gazed down to meet the firm gaze of an average sized black cat. Ozpin was beginning to think that he might have somehow spiked his coffee with something, if Glynda hadn’t also been looking at the black cat incredulously.

For a moment nothing happened, and then Ozpin might have gotten the greatest shock in his entire life. The cat raised a paw as if in greeting and opened its mouth.

“Yo.”

Ozpin blinked again as he tried to register the fact that a cat had just in fact talked. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that Glynda was gaping in astonishment at the feline. However, Ozpin was made of sterner things and made it a habit of not being surprised by things. It helped to deal with the crazier things that he had seen.

“Well, I’ve never met a talking cat before, but I suppose there is a first time for everything. A pleasure to meet you…”

He trailed off then to allow the cat to properly introduce itself. After all if it was self aware enough to talk, surely it knew how to give an introduction. Although he swore that the feline was pouting at him and he had to fight not to give into the surreal experience and gape just like his Combat Instructor.

“It’s not any fun when they don’t react, but I suppose I can show my manners.”

The cat then gave a small bow towards the Headmaster.

“You can call me Yoruichi. And I suppose you could say that I’m the teacher of the four teens you’ve been so interested in for the past hour or so.”

Ozpin felt his eyebrows rise at that statement (how the hell did a cat teach humans to fight effectively), but decided that he had rolled with the punches so far in this encounter, he may as well continue.

“I see… it is nice to meet you, Yoruichi. I am Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy and that is Glynda Goodwitch, although I somehow suspect you already knew that. You seem to have done a fine job in training those four. I haven’t seen a team move so flawlessly in quite some time. And the orange haired one seems to have quite the bit of power within him.”

Yoruichi gave a smirk at that.

“Of course, they needed to be strong for what I had intended for them, unfortunately it seems we have been on the business end of some sort of nasty technique and have become rather lost. I wonder if we might be able to impose on your generosity for the time being until our own comrades can find us.”

Although it was clear that Yoruichi was not giving them all the details, Ozpin found himself not really caring as much as he probably should that the talking cat was deceiving him by omission. Not to mention he felt like the four teens currently ambling along with Ms. Belladonna and Ms. Xiao Long had quite a bit of potential. He supposed that it would be easiest to keep an eye on them if they were ensconced within his Academy.

“I suppose I can make an exception for the time being.”

Ozpin ignored the scandalized look of his right hand woman’s face and felt some satisfaction at the slightly surprised expression from Yoruichi.

“Headmaster, I must object to-”

Ozpin stopped her midsentence with a raised hand, and he heard an audible click of teeth as the woman closed her mouth. Ozpin made sure to keep eye contact with the cat, letting some of his suspicion bleed through his expression.

“While I’m sure that there is an interesting story about where these four teens and Yoruichi have come from, I’d rather that they be put to good use while they are here. As the saying goes Glynda, keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”

For a moment Ozpin and Yoruichi continued to hold eye contact, but the cat decided to break it first, albeit she had a smug sort of grin on her features.

“Well, I suppose that’s as good a reason as any.”

Yoruichi then glanced at the Headmaster once more, a small bit of respect shining through.

“I’d say as far as head honchos go, you’re not half bad.”

Ozpin allowed a small smile of his own to shine through at the compliment.

“I do try. For the time being, shall we see how your team fairs in my little initiation?”

Yoruichi gave a small nod as they looked up towards the video feed showing the four teens in question as they ran through the forest towards the relics.

“Well, if nothing else, it should be entertaining to see how Ichigo reacts to this test.”

Ozpin turned his own gaze back towards the video feed, filing away the name for the time being. He had a feeling it would be useful to know later on.

* * *

Blake Belladonna had not come to be where she was by being overtly trusting. She had been raised within the White Fang and had felt the eyes of discrimination as a Faunus for as long as she could remember. She was also most likely the most jaded of all the students currently in this Initiation.

Therefore, she was making sure to keep an extra eye on the other four that were currently traveling with her and her new partner, Yang. All of them looked as if they were dressed for something other than the initiation (though she had to admit, the blue haired one’s attire wasn’t much more blinding than the Schnee heir’s) and they all seemed completely at ease as they traveled through the Grimm infested forest.

Blake had noticed that they seemed to be running into more Grimm than normal, but Yang didn’t seem to overly care and the others didn’t even try and step in as the orange haired one, she believed his name was Ichigo, stepped in and casually bisected around three Grimm in the time it took her and Yang to take out one.

All of her danger senses were going haywire just being near the teen’s presence as if he was trying to smother everyone around him, but was scaling it back so as not to hurt anyone. She had noticed that Yang seemed perfectly fine, but Blake chopped that up to the fact that although the fiery blonde was definitely skilled in combat, she just hadn’t had as many life or death experiences as Blake had.

Blake frowned at that thought, and decided to make sure that she kept an eye out for her partner. Hopefully Yang’s impulsive nature didn’t get her irreparably hurt or worse one day.

“Well, it’s good to know some people seem to be able to think with their brains and not with their fists around here.”

Blake’s attention snapped to the black haired youth who had spoken (Ishida?) and gave a small nod of acknowledgement. She also narrowed her eyes, it seemed that just as she was studying the four teens at least one of them was studying her.

“I find it extremely strange that I hadn’t seen any of you yesterday or last night, and the fact that you already made a team of sorts seems even stranger. I can’t say I completely trust you at the moment.”

She expected the boy to be offended by that statement, but much to her surprise, he merely gave a low chuckle as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. She hadn’t seen him fight yet, but now that she was able to get a clear glimpse of his eyes, there was a startlingly ferocious intelligence being reflected back at her.

“I’d say you’d be an idiot not to be suspicious, but that’s beside the point. After all, it seems you are not being entirely truthful either.”

Blake felt herself stiffen at that. Surely he didn’t know…

With a small roll of the eyes and a quick glance at her bow, Ishida gave a small nod of acknowledgement toward the disguised Faunus.

“Don’t worry, I’m not entirely sure what your secret is, but the fact that you are so tense and the fact that you’re so suspicious had just lent credence to my theory. And that reaction just now definitely confirmed it. As to what you are hiding? As long as it doesn’t harm any of my friends I could care less.”

Blake let out a small relieved sigh at that. Apparently he still didn’t know, but just the fact that he was able to discern so easily that she _was_ hiding something, was more than she had expected within the first few days of being at Beacon.

“However…”

Suddenly Blake felt as if she had a blade pressed to her neck and some sort of weight on her chest. She felt as though there was some sort of deranged killer who could end her without a thought as Ishida’s gaze bore into her own wide amber orbs.

“…if you do threaten my friends in any way, I’d lose no sleep over disposing of you.”

And just as quickly as it came, it was gone. Blake took in a shuddering breath as she shot a terrified look toward the white clad youth. The last person who had made her feel anything like that had been Adam! And that was when he was directing it towards someone else so she had only felt ancillary effects!

“Ah. Perhaps your secret is less dangerous than I thought.”

The teen sounded apologetic as he took in Blake’s terrified expression and the way she tensed as he began talking again.

“My apologies, we have had quite the dangerous past few days, and I merely wanted to make sure nothing would stab us in the back.”

Blake forced herself to calm her racing heart and to make sure her breathing was even as she turned once more to the white clad monster disguised as a teen.

“I guess that’s fair, just…”

Blake paused for a minute as she tried to gather her thoughts.

“…don’t turn that on Yang. I don’t think she can handle that sort of pressure yet.”

Ishida gave a raised eyebrow at that, but he nodded amicably to show that he truly was sorry.

“Consider it done. For the time being, let us call a truce, besides…”

His next statement would make Blake make sure to keep an eye on these four once she had been accepted into her own team for the following few days.

“…if that had scared you, then Kurosaki might accidently kill you just by being around if you hurt one of us.” 

* * *

Ichigo was paying half attention to his surroundings and half attention to whatever the hell Ishida was doing towards the black haired girl that was hiding something. His signature scowl was firmly in place, but he was somewhat concerned over why Ishida had decided to blast the girl with reiatsu. As far as he could tell, although the two girls had a decent amount or reiatsu, it was definitely below the three boys in their group.

Then again, Ichigo sucked at sensing the stuff, so maybe the Quincy had felt something that he hadn’t?

Nah.

Although the black haired girl was definitely acting a bit shifty towards them, they _had_ lied to her face and said that they were here for this Initiation that Yang had mentioned. As he absentmindedly cut down another one of those Grimm creatures, he heard an appreciative whistle from the blonde in front of him.

“Damn son, you’ve got to have a crazy amount of strength to keep on tearing through those Grimm like that. Hell, it’s almost like you’re _bored_.”

Ichigo merely grunted in answer to Yang’s unspoken question. If he was telling the truth, he _was_ bored. He had been fighting people that so far outclassed the Grimm they had come across that it wasn’t even funny. After fighting the likes of Byakuya and Aizen, it just wasn’t a challenge to cut down these things.

“Oh, well this was a riveting conversation. I take it you’ve never had a girlfriend before.”

Ichigo almost tripped at that comment and glared at the now laughing blonde as he felt a flush of embarrassment begin to creep across his face.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I haven’t had time.”

Yang merely laughed at that as they continued towards whatever ultimate goal that they were running toward. Eventually they broke through the trees and into a small clearing with stone pillars resembling Stonehenge.

“Well whaddya know. Looks like we’ve hit pay dirt! Hey Blakey!”

At the call, Blake came to a stop near her partner and the two began walking towards the center of the ruins.

“Looks like we’ve found what we’re looking for.”

As the six entered into the ruins, Ichigo noticed that chess pieces were set on small pedestals around the ruins. Apparently these were the things that the other two had come into the forest to find. He noticed that Orihime was looking at them interestedly and Chad seemed to be examining one near the entrance to the ruins.

“How about a nice horsey?”

Ichigo looked over to see that Yang had picked up one of the knight pieces, but when Orihime went to pick one up, Ichigo stopped her with a small shake of his head. Technically they weren’t supposed to be in this test. He didn’t want to stop some other student’s chance from entering this Academy on the up and up. He was sure that Yoruichi would be able to spin something for them to get them a place to stay while they searched for a way back home.

It was at this point that a shrill scream burst out from deeper within the forest. Ichigo frowned at the overtly feminine sound even as Yang gave a small exclamation of some girl being in trouble. He glanced up and was somewhat shocked to see a girl dressed in a red cloak descending from the sky. A quick glance above her showed that she had most likely hitched a ride on the giant bird passing over them and had fallen from there. Just as Ichigo was going to go and catch her, she collided mid air with a blonde guy and the both went careening off only to be stopped by a tree.

Ichigo winced at that collision and landing, but it looked as though the two were mostly alright, just a little bit dazed.

“Did your sister just fall from the sky?”

Ichigo glanced at Yang as she stared open mouthed at what she had just witnessed. Well, he couldn’t blame her for that, if Karin or Yuzu had suddenly fell from the sky he’d be pretty blindsided as well. He did admire Blake’s deadpan though.

However, before Yang was able to respond, there was a commotion at the edge of the forest and a girl with hair near the color of his own burst through the foliage riding one of the bear Grimm that they had kept running into and wielding a giant hammer.

Once through, the bear collapsed and the girl gave a sound of disappointment at her impromptu ride dying. She was soon joined by a boy with dark hair except for one pink strand and dressed in green and wielding pistols.

“Did that girl just ride here on an Ursa?”

Ichigo gave Blake points for her incredulity at the surreal experience, but he thought that Yang might explode if something else happened soon. Apparently the universe was against them, because no sooner had he thought that than a red headed Amazon warrior came bursting through the trees, a giant scorpion looking thing hot on her heels.

“Jaune!”

Well, that was a bit of a strange thing to yell once in a clearing, but it became clear who she was talking about as the blonde who had “caught” the red cloaked girl gave a cry of joy.

“Pyrrha!”

Well, looked like those two were partners.

“Did she run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?”

Ichigo definitely detected some sense that Blake was a bit impressed at that feat. Before she could be answered though, the orange haired girl popped up near them all.

“Nora!”

Well, he supposed now he knew the girl’s name.

“Kurosaki-kun, these guys seem a bit weird.”

Well when even Orihime stated that you were a bit weird, it usually meant that you were far and away from normal. Ichigo didn’t really know how to respond to that, so just gave a non-committal shrug.

However, he was stopped from saying anything in response as Yang exploded, literally.

“CAN EVERYONE JUST CHILL OUT FOR LIKE TWO SECONDS!!!!”

Ichigo let a snort out as Blake tugged on Yang’s shirt and pointed up. Following her gesture Ichigo saw yet another girl falling from the sky, screaming at the first girl who fell, who was apparently named Ruby.

“I told you to jump!”

Ichigo sighed as he prepared to save the girl, but noticed that the blond guy from before seemed to have a handle on it, until gravity reasserted itself. Ichigo winced as Jaune and the girl in white landed on the ground with an echoing thud.

With a shout, the red head was punted to the foot of the group and Ichigo looked to see that the scorpion seemed to be quite pissed at everyone.

“Oh good, the gang’s all here! Now we can die together!”

Ichigo rolled his eyes at Yang’s melodramatics, but tensed when he saw the red cloaked girl suddenly rush the monster. Cursing in his head, he unsheathed Zangetsu and burst into a shunpo. However, he needn’t have bothered as the scorpion’s tail had been frozen by the girl in white. She looked as though she was about to lecture the girl in red, but had stopped as she stared at Ichigo with wide eyes.

Ichigo glanced back and saw that everyone not a part of his friends were giving him similar looks.

“ _Dayum_! And I though Rubes was fast! Was that your Semblance Ichigo?”

Ichigo tried to decipher that question, but he was sure that he had no idea what Yang was talking about, so sighing he decided to wing it. Hopefully it would let him reveal some abilities bit by bit as well.

“It’s one aspect of it.”

There, he was able to say that that was part of his abilities while still hinting there was more. Ichigo then turned a critical eye towards the stuck Deathstalker.

“Well, this guy looks well and truly stuck, let’s leave for now.”

However, it seemed that once more the universe hated Ichigo, because there was a louder roar than any he had heard so far coming from within the forest. Ichigo frowned as even the Deathstalker seemed to stop struggling, while everyone else paled in fear.

“No way.”

He glanced over to the white themed girl and saw that she looked as though someone had just walked over her grave. Apparently that roar was something that was not good news for the regular person, regardless of the abilities shown so far.

He felt it before he saw it, the ground began to shake steadily and Ichigo gazed toward where he had heard the sound before he saw something cresting the tree line into their vision.

So far most of the Grimm had been rather small, no bigger than your average Hollow, but the thing that was marching towards them was definitely about the size of a Menos. It looked like some sort of overgrown elephant, but as Ichigo gazed in confusion towards the thing, he saw that the others were definitely in freak out mode.

“Holy shit! Is that a Goliath! What the hell is it doing here!?”

Ichigo looked at the fun loving blonde girl and raised an eyebrow at her. Apparently this thing was bad news for the others. Well, if that was the case…

“Get going.”

The others’ eyes snapped to Ichigo and he realized that it was the first time that most of them had heard him speak. It seemed as though he had inadvertently offended the white themed girl somehow.

“And where are we going to go, and how are you going to deal with _that_!”

She punctuated her exclamation by pointing forcefully at the Goliath. Ichigo merely rolled his eyes at the girl. Despite having a bit of a bossy tone, he would make sure that she understood.

“Go and take care of the bird and the scorpion, I think this guy is a bit much for you guys.”

He let his gaze wander and took in their expressions. Most were looking at him as if he was insane, but both Yang and the red haired girl (whose name he couldn’t quite remember) were frowning heavily at him.

“Oi, Ichigo, we should all retreat!”

The red head, he suddenly remembered the blond guy calling her Pyrrha, nodded in agreement.

“If anyone should stay, it should be me.”

Ichigo rolled his eyes at their hero complexes, but decided to let loose a bit to show them he meant business. As his reiatsu suddenly filled the clearing, everyone who had never felt the sensation before eyes’ widened.

Ichigo noticed that Blake looked almost fearful as she felt his power, but he was just making a statement, so he quickly let up. He knew his eyes were most likely glowing an almost ethereal blue as he looked back towards the group.

“Like I said get going. I’ll take care of this.”

The others could only nod dumbly before coming to their senses and beginning to retreat. Ichigo heard the Deathstalker break free from its confinement, but paid it no mind since it went after the eight retreating teens.

“Well, Kurosaki, you definitely scared the shit out of our new friends. Congratulations.”

Ichigo was about to respond to Ishida’s sass, when Orihime chimed in.

“That wasn’t very nice, Kurosaki-kun, they only wanted to help.”

Well, that just made him feel like a bully when Orihime put it like that. He looked over to Chad waiting for a comment, but he just gave a small shake of his head and turned to face the Goliath that was slowly getting closer.

“Let’s go.”

Ichigo smirked at that. He knew he liked Chad the best for a reason.

“Sounds good to me buddy.”

Ichigo then turned towards the approaching monster with his friends by his side.

* * *

While the ruckus with the Goliath was going on, Glynda had her mouth dropped open as she watched the feeds, and Ozpin had actually dropped his coffee mug.

“Glynda, we need to stop the test.”

Glynda gave a nod of acknowledgement and was about to call in their teachers, when they were stopped by the talking cat.

“Oh, if it’s just that, I wouldn’t worry.”

Both Glynda and Ozpin blinked at that, frozen by such an outrageous statement.

“Ichigo and his friends should be able to take that behemoth down easily enough. After all, although it’s big, it looks excessively slow. Not to mention Ichigo himself should be able to fight evenly with a bunch of those by now.”

Ozpin unfroze at that and slowly collected his coffee mug.

“I find that somewhat hard to believe. I only know of a few Huntsman that could take on such a monster solo. I wouldn’t even trust most of my teachers to do so. This is one of the oldest and most dangerous Grimm we’re talking about.”

Yoruichi snorted at that tidbit of information about their forces. Apparently they had few and far between Vice-Captain class fighters, at least, scattered throughout this world. If that was the case, then they were most likely fairly safe between herself and Ichigo. Not to mention Chad and Ishida. Rounded out with Orihime’s defensive and healing abilities and they were probably able to outclass anything this world had to throw at them.

“It’s quite terrifying, I’ll admit. But Kurosaki Ichigo’s greatest strength isn’t his monstrous strength, speed, or stamina. No his greatest strength is his untapped potential.”

It was then that they all suddenly felt it. It almost felt like they were plunged underwater to deep depths. Ozpin was able to shrug off the effect rather quickly, Glynda following suit a moment later. Apparently Yoruichi was completely unaffected, most likely meaning that she had felt this sort of power or something like it more than once.

“I…”

Ozpin tried to collect his thoughts at the terrifying power he had just felt. If he had to put it into words it almost felt as though someone was able to exude their aura and almost oppress others with it. That was definitely something that he had never felt before.

“… don’t know how to respond to that.”

Yoruichi merely grinned at the gray haired man.

“Just let Ichigo do what he does best. I’ll guarantee you that all of your students will be fine.”

Yoruichi then glanced at the feeds, before giving some sort of consent towards them.

“Well, provided they can defeat their own challenges.”

Ozpin and Glynda turned back to the feed and saw that the eight students who were going to form their own teams had begun to fight the Deathstalker and Nevermore from before.

Yoruichi grinned as she kept her eye on Ichigo and his friends. She supposed they would have to impress the Headmaster if they wanted to stay here indefinitely. Judging by the small glint she saw in the man’s eyes, it looked like he was about to be suitably impressed.

* * *

Ichigo glared as the Goliath slowly got closer to them. It looked big and intimidating, but man was the thing slow. Hell, he was pretty sure the Menos Grande were faster than this thing, and that was saying something.

“Well, let’s get to work.”

Ishida’s comment was met with nods as he let his chain drop and had the glowing bow appear in his hands. With a steady hand, the Quincy pulled back and let a barrage of arrows fly at the shambling giant.

Ichigo watched on impassively as the arrows struck home, but most just bounced off the skin of the giant. He raised an eyebrow at this, while Ishida let out a grunt of annoyance.

“It seems that this one’s hide is tougher than the others so far.”

Ichigo cracked his neck as he slung Zangetsu over his shoulders in a resting position blade facing the sky. With a critical eye, he noted that there might be some buildings in the distance. If he didn’t want to destroy anything, he supposed he would have to take this fight to the skies.

“Hey, Chad.”

His oldest friend currently with him gave him a questioning look at his tone. Ichigo made sure not to keep the gentle giant waiting as he explained his plan.

“Can you get that thing airborne?”

Chad gave a measuring look at the Goliath before giving a small nod towards Ichigo.

“It should be easy enough.”

Ichigo let out a small laugh at that as his friend began to walk towards where the Goliath was steadily approaching.

Ichigo took a small breath as Ishida sent out covering fire towards the massive Grimm while Chad made his way there.

Ichigo looked on as Chad broke into a run and covered the ground fairly quickly. With a small sigh to orient himself Ichigo leapt into the air and created a platform for himself to stand on. As he stood on thin air he watched Chad get closer to the Goliath. He also noticed that it had finally noticed his friend charging at the behemoth.

With a massive roar, the monster tried to bear down on Chad, swinging its trunk and creating amass of displaced air from where it passed. Ichigo watched on as Chad’s arm changed to black and he caught the attack, stopping it dead as debris and dust blew through the air.

Ichigo didn’t have to wait for long as with a mighty heave, the Mexican-Japanese planted his foot, cracking the ground around him with his power and lifted the Goliath into the air.

Ichigo grinned viciously as he began to collect his reiatsu towards Zangetsu’s blade.

“Well, you know what they say big guy! The bigger they are…”

Ichigo let his power burst out from his body, tired of having to keep such a tight lid on it while they had been near everyone they had met in this world so far. Blue energy exploded from the teen as he hefted his blade.

“…the harder they fall! Getsuga Tenshou!”

His attack named, he brought down the blade in a sweeping arc and released his massive energy build up. The attack skyrocketed towards the ancient Grimm and struck its mask dead center. For a second the attack was stopped, then with a blood curdling scream of defeat, the energy tore through the Grimm and exploded outward, upwards into the sky as the massive beast hung in the air for a moment before it slowly began to fall back to the earth.

However, as the beast fell, it was apparent that Ichigo’s attack had bisected it and it split into two both halves crashing to the ground and kicking up a massive amount of debris and dust before the two halves disappeared just like all the other Grimm before it had.

Ichigo let out a small sigh as he hefted Zangetsu once more to his shoulder.

“Well, at least you didn’t destroy the Academy that we’re probably going to be staying at for the time being, Kurosaki.”

Ichigo rolled his eyes at that.

“Oh, bite me Ishida.”

* * *

Ruby Rose was looking at the sky in awe.

She had thought she had just pulled off a pretty impressive feat by finishing off a Nevermore. Granted she had had a ton of help, but through their respective teamwork, she and the other seven Beacon hopefuls had killed both a Nevermore and a Deathstalker.

However, while the others were gazing up at her with awed expressions, as if they couldn’t believe that they had just won, she had been looking down at them until she caught something beginning to block out the sun in the corner of her eye. Curious she looked up.

It was then she felt her jaw drop.

There in the sky was the Goliath that they had left Ichigo (her sister had told her his name as they ran like hell to get away from the two other Grimm that wanted to kill them) to fight.

She saw from the corner of her eye that the others then looked up and they too froze in astonishment as the ancient Grimm blotted out the sun in the forest as he was launched into the sky. However, it was far from over as she saw a dense explosion of blue erupt and fire towards the Goliath.

What happened next would be burned into her memories for years to come.

The blue energy had ripped through the air and smashed into the giant Grimm and for a moment it was stopped, but then _it just kept going_. It went through the Goliath and traveled even further before it exploded in a spectacular fashion.

Holy crap, she had always wanted to be a hero, but she sure as heck wasn’t able to pull off some sort of stunt like that. She wasn’t even sure if her Uncle Qrow could do something like that! That had to be the single most awesome thing she had seen since she started training to be a Huntress.

She heard talking from Yang, carried on the wind up to her.

“Holy hell, that guy actually did it”

Ruby rolled her eyes at her sister’s astonishment, but had to admit that she was feeling the same. When they had left Ichigo behind they had thought he was buying time before one of the teachers came to help. When they had realized that the others that had been with him had stayed as well, they had almost turned back.

However, with a few words from Weiss, and surprisingly Blake, they had decided to forge on ahead and see if they could get away from the craziness. Unfortunately for them the other Grimm had caught up to them and then they were fighting for their lives, thoughts of the four they left behind driven to the back of their minds.

“Welp that was a thing.”

Ruby couldn’t help it. She began to laugh at Yang’s simple statement. Leave it to Yang to master the art of supreme understatement. She hoped that everyone else was ready for the craziness that would be she and her sister while they were at Beacon.

* * *

Ozpin and Glynda were stunned into silence. They had heard that Yoruichi had believed that Ichigo would be able to take care of that Grimm by himself, but they were fully prepared to intervene if they had to.

Apparently they didn’t have to.

Ozpin had seen quite a bit over the course of his tenure as the Headmaster of Beacon, but he had never seen someone come out of the blue and suddenly take on one of the strongest Grimm in existence. He was sure that the teachers that had been put on standby were just as floored as himself and Glynda had been if they were watching.

Whatever he had been expecting from Kurosaki Ichigo it had not been that. He had stood in the air as if there was a platform and then let loose one of the most _massive_ attacks that Ozpin had ever seen. In fact he thought that the boy might actually rival a Maiden in pure power, if not finesse. However, finesse could be learned over time, the massive power influx that Ozpin had felt could not.

He glanced to the video feed and watched as the four mysterious teen met with one another and gave congratulations to Ichigo, as though this was something that he had done every day.

Ozpin felt his mind begin to form plan after plan, trying to come up with contingencies for the four teens. It was while he was examining them, that he noticed the largest one had done some damage to his arm if the way he was stretching it was any indication.

It was then that Ozpin finally saw what the girl of that group could do, and his mind almost halted. She had called forth some sort of triangular orange barrier over the taller boy’s arm (whom had tossed a massive Grimm into the air, something that he was sure none of his Huntsmen had ever tried to do) and as the arm was left in there, it seemed the slight discomfort on the boy’s face disappeared.

It only took a few seconds, but Ozpin watched on in awe as the boy stretched his arm, looking as though the injury had never happened. Ozpin glanced at Glynda to see if she had seen that, but he noticed that she was still staring off towards where the Goliath had disappeared, stunned. If what had just seen was true, then he might have finally found an answer to the problem that had been beneath his school for the past few weeks.

“Yoruichi, I’m sorry do you prefer Mr. or Ms?”

Yoruichi merely gave a massive yawn up at the Headmaster before stretching, evidently somewhat bored with the proceedings that they had been a part of.

“It doesn’t really matter, just call me Yoruichi. I take it you have a question?”

Ozpin nodded as he tried to figure out how to go about gathering the information that he wanted.

“All of their powers are certainly fascinating, and I daresay that Ichigo’s potential is massive if he can destroy something like a Goliath and still have room to grow.”

Yoruichi nodded, but it was obvious that they were ready for some sort of espionage to take place. Apparently they had dealt with this sort of thing before if the somewhat suspicious glint in their eyes was anything to go by.

“However, I find myself wonder just what the young woman is capable of?”

Ah. It seemed he had touched on something he shouldn’t have as the talking cat’s eyes dimmed and it was obvious that Ozpin was about to be put through the ringer if he wanted to have some answers.

“Orihime is a very special girl.”

This was stated with such certainty that Ozpin didn’t doubt it. However, he knew that there was more to it than that

“Unfortunately, Orihime is an ultimate pacifist. Even if you tell her to fight with all her strength or else her friends might die, she just can’t bring herself to do it.”

Ozpin was a bit taken aback by that. If that was the case, what was she doing with such obviously strong people? Even with her ability to what he suspected was some sort of healing Semblance, if she was unable to fight, she would only be a liability in the field.

“Thankfully she does have an attack, and for most of the lower level Grimm, it will be enough to destroy them. She is also able to create quite the amazing defensive shield.”

Ozpin felt his eye twitch as he knew Yoruichi was most likely dancing around the issue. If what he had seen on the screen was correct then her most valuable ability had definitely not been mentioned yet.

“But, as I’m sure you’ve already figured out, Orihime’s greatest ability is as a healer.”

Ozpin heard Glynda’s sharp intake of breath at that and glanced at her to see she had pulled out of her stupor and was now paying attention to the talking cat. However, it seemed that Yoruichi was coming to some sort of decision and closed their eyes as they let out an explosive sigh.

“I’ve been doing recon on this place ever since I got here.”

Ozpin heard Glynda’s tensing as she gripped her riding crop, and he had to do everything he could not to react to that information. After all, the talking cat was small and possibly cute and cuddly, but they had trained the people who had just annihilated one of the ancient Grimm. Ozpin decided to hide his discomfort by taking a sip of his coffee, luckily there was still some in his mug after dripping it.

“While I admit that is… troubling. I feel as though you have more to reveal.”

Yoruichi’s piercing eyes pinned the two teachers into place.

“I’ve only told the two of you this because we desperately need a place to stay as we try to figure out our situation. Although I don’t like it, I’d say that Orihime is most likely our greatest bargaining chip. After all…”

Here Yoruichi’s eyes narrowed as they took in the almost aggressive stance that Glynda had begun to adopt, while Ozpin still maintained his cool indifference.

“…whoever is below the school is definitely in some need of healing.”

Well, it seemed that even after all these years, Ozpin could still be surprised. He almost dropped his mug once more, and he saw Glynda’s riding crop slip from trembling hands.

Forcing himself to remain calm, he met the gaze of the talking cat, not willing to apologize for what they had to do to the poor Fall Maiden.

“Are you saying that Ms. Orihime would be able to heal the person beneath my school?”

Yoruichi gave a cocked eyebrow at that as their tail swished back and forth almost lazily.

“Of course.”

Ozpin let out a triumphant grin at the answer, it seemed that he had finally gained some very powerful allies and hope was beginning to bloom. Of course it was the smaller, gentler souls that made the difference.

“Then for you and your team… I bid you welcome to Beacon.”


	2. Because I'm Going To

The auditorium was loud with the murmuring of the assembled students as they filed in to find out who they were going to be teamed up with for the rest of their time at Beacon.  Naturally as the Schnee heir, Weiss was holding her head high, even as she tried to ignore the riff raff that were the other seven students that had been with her when they had defeated the Nevermore and Deathstalker.

“Yo, Ice Queen, you might wanna lighten up a bit. After all, we did all pass into the school.”

Weiss rolled her eyes at the antics of the overly familiar blonde that was her (and here she had to suppress a shudder) _partner’s_ sister.

Five minutes with the blonde outside of battle and Weiss could only feel a distinct sense of distaste towards the girl’s peppy personality. She was sure that one of her most likely new teammates was going to be the death of her.

However, before she could reply to the blonde, the _child_ decided to speak up first.

“Don’t be like that Yang, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to mess around and have fun in the school before we need to graduate. We can break Weiss out of her shell then!”

The Schnee heiress merely huffed in annoyance as she crossed her arms and resisted the urge to roll her eyes again.

“I’ll have you know, that this Academy is very prestigious, and if you _really_ want to be a good partner, then you should know that your actions are going to reflect on me. Remember that whenever you’re thinking of doing something…boneheaded.”

Ruby seemed to deflate more and more as the heiress went on, but once she was done, the girl perked right back up, fist clenched in determination.

“Don’t worry Weiss! We’ll be the best duo this Academy has ever seen! You’ll be the Taiyang to my Qrow!”

Weiss blinked as she tried to figure out who the hell the girl was talking about, but her thoughts were derailed as another voice spiked through the din of the masses.

“Yo.”

She blinked once more and forced down the small twinge of fear she felt at that voice before turning to the four students who seemed to have most likely crashed the exams.

The orange haired boy had raised his hand in greeting and he was flanked by the other three. He also had a black cat that was perched atop his shoulder, one that was looking around the auditorium with startlingly intelligent eyes. One’s that somewhat reminded her of that girl Blake.

She glanced towards the black haired girl to see that she was staring intently at the boy dressed in white, but shrugged it off. Perhaps it was the beginnings of a crush?

“Hi, Ichigo, Chad, Orihime, Ishida! Isthatyourguys’cat,becausemeandYangsawacatyesterdaythatlookedalotlikethat!”

Weiss looked on as the four other teens seemed taken aback at the accelerated pace that her partner set for conversation, but the orange haired one merely smirked (and Weiss swore that the cat was smirking with him).

“Yeah, it’s our cat, Yoruichi. She had been wandering around yesterday before we were able to get to this building.”

The cat gave a soft meow in what Weiss guessed was hello (if cat’s needed to say hello).

“It’s so awesome that we all passed, and it was so cool how you took down that Goliath! I didn’t think there was anyone in our age group that was able to do that!”

Ichigo gave a huff of laughter at that, but it was the only girl in the group (besides the cat) that responded to Weiss’ partner’s enthusiasm.

“Kurosaki-kun is the strongest person I know!”

The girl blinked as the others turned to her and the girl had a light dusting of red on her cheeks when she realized the attention that her outburst had created. Not just from the immediate people around her, but also from various other groups that had passed the exam.

“Although, Ishida-kun and Sado-kun are both strong as well.”

This was said in a much more subdued tone, but a small flick to the back of the head from Ichigo had her brightening once more.

“Don’t sell yourself short, Inoue. You’re just as strong as us, in your own way.”

The people in the immediate vicinity were then treated to a beaming smile that lit up the girl’s face, accentuating her beauty.

Weiss heard a low whistle from beside her and looked to see that Yang had a teasing grin on her face.

“Way to make a girl feel welcome, lady-killer.”

They were then treated to Ichigo’s face blossoming red from embarrassment.

“What-, it’s not like that!”

Before he could say more, he was interrupted by the Headmaster stepping up onto the stage. There was a brief speech and then the Hunter began to assign the teams that they would have to deal with for the next four years.

Eventually he got to the people that Weiss had been standing with and they began to move towards the stage.

“Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren. For getting the Rook Piece within the Forest, you shall henceforth be known as Team JNPR (Juniper)!”

There was a dramatic pause, but it was broken by Ozpin continuing.

“Led by Jaune Arc!”

Weiss somewhat enjoyed the pole axed expression that the blond boy was sporting, but he was soon ushered off the stage, with Ozpin muttering something that no one else could really hear.

Next up was the wild card group, who were looking at their pictures rather uncomfortably. It seemed like they weren’t used to being in the limelight.

“Kurosaki Ichigo, Ishida Uryuu, Inoue Orihime, and Sado Yasutora. Although none of you retrieved an artifact within the Forest, your fight against the Goliath was appreciated. Therefore, you shall be known as Team IUOY (Ivory).”

Once more the Headmaster paused. Weiss supposed the man had some sense of flare for the dramatic.

“Led by, Kurosaki Ichigo!”

Weiss heard Yang whispering beside her to Blake.

“No surprise there.”

Weiss couldn’t help but agree. It felt as if the other three already mostly deferred to the orange haired boy, but she also shivered as she remembered the feeling he gave off within the Emerald Forest. He was most definitely the strongest of the four.

However, she was diverted from her thoughts as she heard her own name called.

“Ruby Rosy, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna , and Yang XiaoLong. For acquiring the Knight Piece you will henceforth be known as Team RWBY!”

Weiss prepared herself to accept the leadership, as she felt that she was obviously the best choice for leader, but her logic was instantly crushed by Ozpin’s next announcement.

“Lead by Ruby Rose!”

Weiss couldn’t believe her ears, and apparently her partner couldn’t either, because they both had an exclamation at the same time.

“ ** _What!?_** /What!?”

* * *

Ichigo glanced around the dorm room that the four of them had been assigned and he thought that it looked fairly cozy, if a little cramped. He was also hyper aware of the fact that it was three boys and only one girl in this room (Yoruichi didn’t count due to her crazy antics), but he was trying to ignore that as best as he possibly could. He’d rather have all of his friends together rather than be split up in any case.

“These dorms are a bit… cramped.”

Ichigo grimaced before shooting Ishida an annoyed look.

“No need to remind us, me ‘n Chad are a bit too big for this space.”

Of course Yoruichi had to chime in with that.

“Not to mention your big ass zanpakuto. If only you had the control to seal the damn thing.”

Ichigo rolled his eyes at that. His second teacher seemed to live to try and torment him at times, but before he was able to give a comeback, the cat was continuing.

“Not to mention we’re going to have to figure out some timetables so poor Orihime doesn’t feel as though one of you might jump her.”

The cat’s words made all three boys blush, and had Orihime waving her hands in denial.

“No… I don’t want to be a bother-”

“Inoue.”

Orihime’s mouth snapped shut at Ichigo’s rather gruff statement of her name, but the orange haired Shinigami shouldered on.

“It’s fine. We should have figured something like this would happen. These guys are here for the next four years or so. We’ll help how we can and try and find a way back home at the same time.”

The group took on a slightly melancholic note at the mention at home, but Ichigo pushed through. Out of the group of five here, the only one who had a real family waiting for them was himself. He supposed that might be a blessing in disguise, despite how cold hearted that made him feel.

He ruthlessly pushed down a wave of homesickness to be able to see the twins again. Hell, he might even be somewhat amicable to seeing Goat Face.

“However, Yoruichi is right. We need to set some boundaries while we’re here. It’s not exactly proper that we’re all sleeping in the same room in the first place, but we’ll figure it out.”

Although Inoue was blushing up a storm and mumbling about not wanting to be a bother; Ichigo decided to ignore it. They needed to be together so that they could navigate this crazy world of monsters and teens with ridiculous weapons, but Ichigo was confident that the five people in this room were possibly the strongest things on this planet.

“Well said, Ichigo, it looks like you’re taking being a leader pretty seriously.”

Ichigo rolled his eyes at the talking cat, but merely turned his attention to the other two males in the room. Both of which looked to be in agreement with Ichigo’s ideas.

“I agree with Kurosaki-san, Inoue-san. We need to make sure that you are comfortable for our stay here, however long or short it may be.”

Ishida’s comment made the girl of their group become a bit more confident, and a small nod from Chad had her smiling once more.

“Now that we’ve figured that out, it’s time to move onto other matters.”

The four teens turned their attention to Yoruichi as the cat leapt onto Ichigo’s chosen bed.

“While the four of you are undoubtedly strong, we don’t really _know_ anything about this world. It seems as though the Grimm are similar to our own Hollow problem, but it looks as though the people here have unlocked their reiatsu somehow, though they describe it as Aura.”

Ichigo nodded along, he supposed that it was nice to be able to act so openly with their powers and not be labeled as witches or something. That could’ve been beyond annoying.

“However, I’d say that the normal Hunters and Huntresses in this Academy are a bit subpar compared to a Captain level Shinigami. Therefore try to keep the output on the down low, Ichigo. I’d rather not have you be the indirect cause of people beginning to drop like flies.”

Ichigo rolled his eyes, but nodded in agreement nonetheless before Yoruichi pinned him with a piercing stare.

“That means no Bankai for the moment, unless _absolutely_ necessary.”

Ichigo sighed, but once more gave his ascent to the rules Yoruichi was laying down. The cat then let her gaze sweep over the room, taking in the other teens.

“The rest of you should be mostly fine, although you have the potential to fight against the Captains within the Gotei, you don’t have Ichigo’s insane reiatsu output.”

She was interrupted here by Ishida adjusting his glasses and muttering to himself.

“I should hope not.”

However, the Quincy clammed up when Yoruichi’s eyes found him. Ichigo fought back a smirk as the bastard sweat for a moment before Yoruichi decided to continue.

“However, there are a few things that you need to be aware of in this world that I have been able to suss out thus far.”

The others straightened at the cat’s tone. Obviously she thought that this information was important to their predicament.

“First, the humans on this planet can be classified into two species. The first are merely ordinary looking humans, they look like all of you, but the others are classified as Faunus. The Faunus are humans that generally have an animal trait such as dog ears, or a rabbit tail. In addition they have excellent night vision and have been discriminated against for a _long_ time on this world.”

Ichigo frowned at that. As far as he was concerned humans were humans and it was his job to protect them. He glanced over at Ishida, who was wearing a thoughtful look, as though he had figured something out, but he paid it no mind. He supposed it might be about that Blake girl, but Ichigo honestly didn’t care one way or another.

“We need to be aware that not all Faunus are treated fairly, and be careful of any radical groups we might encounter. The only one I’ve heard of so far is The White Fang, but there may be more that are hidden behind the Fang’s screen of infamy, so be careful.”

Yoruichi paused and waited as the others acknowledged her advice. When she was satisfied that they all understood she continued.

“Also, while the four of you look mature for your age, the usual standard age for aspiring Hunters/Huntresses is 17. For now, you don’t have to lie about your ages, but let’s not draw attention to how young all of you are.”

Ichigo was a bit surprised at the age that they began training the people here. While he was strong and had gone through his own personal hell to become so, he was sure he was an outlier, as was the rest of his “team.”

Huh, he had never really thought of them as a team before, but he felt that it was fine to be team IUOY, at least for the time that they were stuck in this world. He was sure Geta-boshi was doing something to find them and bring them back. The man was far too interfering not to be attempting to do so.

“The last bit of business I’m going to bring up is specifically for Orihime.”

Ichigo’s gaze snapped to the cat, who wasn’t even looking at him at the moment, but rather had her gaze affixed on Inoue.

“I’m sure you’ve already felt the person below the school. I think the only person not to have felt her is most likely Ichigo, and that’s because he’s an idiot.”

Ichigo felt his scowl deepen at that, but he honestly had no idea what the cat was talking about.

“It feels as though someone tried to split her soul.”

Now, _that_ was something that sounded far too close to Aizen and his megalomaniacal plans for comfort. He was sure that the black sphere thing was used for something similar, and if the other’s reactions were anything to go by, then he was right.

“I’ve talked to the Headmaster and one of the conditions for him taking the four of you in was for Orihime to help heal the girl that’s below the school. However, if you don’t want to do so, I’m certainly not going to stop you.”

Orihime gave a small nod, but Ichigo could tell by the fire in her eyes, that she was going to most likely help. It was simply against her nature not to try and help out when she might have the chance to.

“I think that that’s enough plotting and scheming for now. If we’re going to do this, we might as well do it right and make sure to get some sleep so that we’re prepared for whatever crazy things might happen tomorrow.”

The other’s nodded and with a bit of finagling they were able to get a setup that gave Orihime some privacy to prepare for sleep.

When Ichigo’s head hit the pillow, he allowed a brief flash of the despair at not being able to see his family once more. Even after all of that crazy shit that was pulled in Soul Society, he had not been able to return. Sighing to himself, Ichigo stared up at the ceiling as he slowly drifted to sleep. Whatever would happen tomorrow, he would meet it head on as he always had.

* * *

Blake was trying valiantly to keep her eyes open as Professor Port, who was in charge of their first class, kept droning on about his younger years and how many Grimm he was capable of killing. If not for the man’s boisterous attitude, Blake might have thought the lesson at least somewhat informative.

Unfortunately that was not the case, as she glanced around she noticed that a variety of others were also fighting a losing battle to sleep as the Professor kept droning on. While she was sure Beacon was a prestigious Academy, she had no idea how they were able to keep that sort of title when this man was one of the examples of the Professors.

However, while Blake had been slowly dozing off, one student actually _was_ paying attention, and when the Professor finally concluded what she could only assume was his lecture (boring though it may be) she made sure that she was in the running for volunteers.

“…now are there any here who think that they are a true Hunter or Huntress?”

Blake was snapped out of her reverie as a short clipped voice, befitting for the person that she was calling Ice Queen in her mind, answered.

“I do, sir!”

Blake snapped her eyes over to the white themed heiress and raised an eyebrow at the girl’s enthusiasm. While Blake was sure of herself and felt that she had what it took to defeat any kind of test, her secret mostly kept her from trying to stand out too much, lest she be discovered.

It looked like she had failed to take into account the ancy heiress that was also a part of her team though, as the girl was practically vibrating as she raised her hand to be accepted to partake in Port’s test.

“Well, it seems we have a volunteer, if that is the case, then we can proceed! Take a few minutes to change into your preferred combat attire and we can continue!”

Blake caught her partner’s eye, but the blonde merely shrugged when Blake shot a questioning glance at her team leader, who was looking distinctly downcast.

A few moments later, however, and the fifteen year old was once more her exuberant self as she cheered on her partner, with Yang and Blake providing support. Blake wasn’t entirely sure where Ruby or Yang had produced the little RWBY flags, but she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth and decided to just go with the flow and cheer for her teammate by waving her own little flag.

Weiss was now standing within the center of the circle in their arena styled classroom and was faced with a cage that held a menacing growling drifting out of it.

Blake was sure that whatever Grimm Port had captured was getting much more riled up than might have been the case if one of them had encountered it in the wild.

“I hope Schnee-san will be okay. That thing in the cage sounds pretty angry.”

Blake’s hidden ears perked up as she heard the orange haired girl from Ichigo’s group whisper to her companions.

“Not to worry Inoue-san, I’m sure that the professor took the required measures to ensure that his students are safe, even if she is acting a bit arrogant.”

The last part was said as only a mumble, but with her excellent hearing Blake had no trouble deciphering the glasses wearing boy of team IUOY.

“Pot… meet kettle.”

The boy, who almost certainly knew of her Faunus heritage, glared at his orange haired leader at that, but he merely settled down as he eyed the arena and Weiss. Seeing the team fall silent in anticipation, Blake turned her own attention once more to the floor.

The Schnee heiress was standing straight backed and looked as though she were trying to pull off an elegant stance. Blake personally thought it look as though she was too tense and had something shoved up her butt.

However, that was all a moot point when Port finally made his way over to the cage.

“Now then, Miss Schnee, we will see if you are indeed worthy of the title Huntress! Prepare yourself!”

With his final words, the man threw open the cage and one of the creatures of Grimm surged out. Blake grimaced as she realized just what Grimm the professor had been keeping in the classroom.

A Boarbatusk. Damn it. That was a bad match up for Weiss. From what Blake had seen, the heiress relied on her speed and piercing power of her weapon in conjunction with glyphs and dust. However, the Boarbatusk’s hide would be a natural deterrent to the girl’s fighting style.

“You got this Weiss!”

Blake shot a sidelong glance at her team leader, but shrugged and accepted that Weiss would just have to figure out some way to overcome the obstacle that had been presented to her.

With an almighty roar, the Grimm charged the heiress, who barely managed to dodge in time. Blake took in the look of concentration and winced as her team leader once more began shouting advice and cheering like mad. That was definitely not the way that Weiss wanted to approach this fight.

Blake watched as her white themed teammate seemed to get more and more flustered, until the explosion that was inevitable occurred.

“Ruby! Will you shut up!”

Blake took notice of the flash of hurt on her leader’s young face and also noticed that the Boarbatusk seemed to have sensed an opening because it was able to charge at Weiss again. The heiress’ blue eyes widened as she realized her mistake and she spun, letting the Grimm only get a glancing blow instead of the devastating hit that it could have been.

The white haired girl panted within the arena, but Blake’s eyes were focused on the Grimm who had also paused in its mad charging. In fact, it almost seemed to be trying to do something.

Blake felt the hairs on the back of her arms stand up as an ethereal red energy began to flow towards the space in the center of the Boarbatusk’s horns and a small red ball of energy began gathering.

Blake’s eyes widened at the sight and she looked over to the professor who was also staring at the creature in astonishment. Apparently he had never seen the Grimm begin to charge something such as that red ball before.

Well that probably wasn’t a good sign. If the Grimm Studies Professor was unable to recognize what was going on, then it was probably something never seen before.

However, before the Boarbatusk was able to shoot off the energy, a blue arrow came screeching through the arena where the Schnee heiress had been fighting and pierced the Grimm in its eye. It was then surrounded by an orange shield before the red ball of energy the Grimm had been gathering exploded and thrashed against the shield.

A second later and the shield and Grimm had been dissolved, much to the astonishment of the surrounding students, and apparently the Professor.

“Well, I’ve never seen anything so fascinating!”

Port’s exclamation drew Blake from her stupor and she noticed that he was directing his gaze towards the students once more. More specifically, team IUOY.

“Splendid and simply marvelous! May I ask how you knew that the Grimm was attempting some sort of technique that seems to explode?”

Orihime seemed a bit nervous under the class’s scrutiny as she rubbed the back of her head. However, it seemed that Ishida had no such compunctions as he merely pushed his glasses higher on his nose before responding.

“The energy it was gathering felt quite dangerous, so I made a snap decision to take care of the problem, lest Miss Schnee be hurt by an unexpected attack. Inoue-san merely helped me contain what I assumed would be quite the explosion.”

Port let out a bellowing laugh once Ishida had given his explanation, although Blake noticed that the Schnee heiress looked slightly put out at having her spotlight stolen.

“A splendid response and a splendid use of teamwork! The two of you will be fine Hunters one day, Mr. Ishida and Miss Inoue!”

It seemed as though the Professor was going to keep on singing the praises of the two, but the bell rang just as he was beginning to get more steam.

“Ah, confound it! I always seem to lose track of the time in these lessons. Well, on you go! I’ll go over what we saw in our next class!”

Blake let out a small sigh as she saw the white clad girl stay behind, clearly wanting to talk alone with the Professor. This caused the black haired girl to glance toward her new leader and saw that the young girl had a slightly dejected look on her face.

Unfortunately for the red clad girl, Blake wasn’t a very social person, and wasn’t quite comfortable enough with her team yet to truly offer any kind of emotional support. She supposed the girl’s sister might do it, or maybe someone else. For now, Blake had the mystery of the glowing red attack that the Grimm had attempted to use to ponder, and to wonder how the UO from Team IUOY was able to respond so quickly to a newly perceived threat.

* * *

Weiss was fuming as she made her way through the halls of Beacon. Her talk with Professor Port hadn’t gone how she wanted it to at all. The man had the nerve to tell her that the little girl had the right to be a leader! What had all her training led to if she could be showed up by a girl two years younger than her?

“That’s a pretty scary scowl.”

Weiss almost jumped out of her skin at the unexpected voice, but was able to recover enough to turn her attention to the orange haired boy that was leaning casually against a pillar with his dark skinned friend a little behind him, hands in pockets and looking up towards the sky.

Weiss merely huffed in indignation as the boy’s words finally sank in. She drew herself up to her full (admittedly short) height before pointing an accusatory finger at the two who had interrupted her as she tried to figure out how to let off some steam. (She was also a little peeved at the other two parts of team IUOY as they had stolen her thunder, so to speak, earlier).

“I don’t recall asking you to butt into any of my business!”

The team leader for IUOY scowled (which really put her own to shame, she was sure) as he gently pushed off the pillar and ambled towards her.

“See, Yuki-hime, I think you need to have a bit of an attitude adjustment. The people who you’re now teammates with aren’t just your teammates. They’re the people that are going to have your back when you’re outnumbered and outgunned and completely depleted of your Aura.”

Weiss’ eyes widened at that, her cutting response dying before it ever even left her tongue.

“Now while I think Ruby might be a little immature for her age, she definitely seems like a capable fighter, I’m pretty sure you have to be just to get in here regularly, but that girl was able to get in early. That means she _must_ have impressed Ozpin-sensei enough. Maybe even enough that she would be a shoe in for the leader position.”

Weiss contemplated that for a moment, letting it tumble around in her mind. Although it could be possible, she wasn’t completely sure, but Ichigo wasn’t done yet.

“On the other hand, all you’ve done is been standoffish to pretty much everyone, unless trying to use them for your own gain, and generally kind of annoying to deal with. Say what you want about Ruby, I can tell that she cares deeply for her team already and it’s that kind of intangible spark that leaders need. Even with you acting the way you are, Ruby is still trying to be the best leader she can be, while you’re throwing a temper tantrum. If the girl two years younger than you, and one who is admittedly a bit immature, is acting like the adult, no wonder you didn’t become a leader.”

Weiss stumbled back and shrank a little bit into herself at Ichigo’s harsh words. However, she shook off those feelings and met the orange haired boy’s eyes without flinching. She was a proud member of the Schnee family and she would not be cowed by this ruffian!

“That may be true, but I will do things my own way and will help my team in my own way. If Ruby is going to be the leader, then I’ll make sure she understands the standards we need to hold our team accountable to!”

With a spin and a swish of her hair, Weiss began to make her way back towards her room. She had some things to discuss with her new teammate and she wanted to make sure that what they talked about stuck.

* * *

Ichigo watched the white themed girl storm off with narrowed eyes. If he had to be a bit antagonistic then so be it. He wasn’t really all that sociable in any case. In fact, the only reason he had even stepped in to help out was because the leader of team RWBY reminded him of some sort of unholy combination of his sisters. Ruby had Yuzu’s soft countenance and general cuteness, while Karin showed up in her hyperactivity.

Ichigo sighed, he supposed his brotherly instincts were harder to suppress than he thought.

“She’ll come around.”

Ichigo glanced over to his longtime friend, who continued to watch the darkening sky. The broken moon sent a light over Remnant, but it still seemed weird for the moon to be broken as it was. However, Ichigo could see the surreal beauty in it.

“I must say, I was very impressed with your outlook young man.”

Ichigo let out a yelp and jumped back in a ready stance. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Chad tensing. Standing way too close for comfort was the Headmaster, calmly sipping a cup of coffee.

Ichigo slowly relaxed his stance (Chad did as well, but only when he did). For a moment no one spoke as the Headmaster kept up the sip from his mug.

Awkward silences weren’t really Ichigo’s thing, so he decided to confront the man head on as he always did.

“How long were you listening to us for?”

Ozpin merely smirked as he swept his gaze between the two boys.

“For long enough, Mr. Kurosaki. I must say, your views on what you might be facing here at this school are somewhat fascinating.”

Ichigo sighed as his scowl towards the Headmaster lessened. The man seemed enigmatic at the best of times, of course he would try some cryptic advice. He was sure that Ozpin was Urahara’s long lost brother or something.

“It’s not so much that you stood up for young Miss Rose, but rather that you understand what their teams are meant to be. For that I commend you, but don’t forget to pay some attention to your own team.”

Ozpin paused and took another sip from his mug, just drawn out enough to make Ichigo slightly irritated.

“I admit I am looking forward to your first combat class, gentleman. Until then, please get some rest.”

His words of wisdom imparted, Ozpin spun around and walked off.

Ichigo made sure to keep an eye on the man until he turned a corner and disappeared from view. Once that happened he glanced towards Chad.

“How the hell did that guy sneak up on us?”

Before his friend could answer a deep voice rang out in the hallway.

“Very easily I imagine.”

Ichigo nearly jumped out of his skin before he glared down towards his feet where Yoruichi sat looking incredibly smug. Huffing and putting his hands in his pockets he decided to address the cat.

“Y’know, I think you sometimes are living just to troll people, I can see how Geta-boshi and you can be friends.”

Yoruichi merely cocked an eyebrow at that (which was a bit strange on a cat), but seemed to concede the point.

“Onto a different matter, I’ve just come from a meeting with the Headmaster and am looking for Orihime. We will be helping out within a week or so. It seems that for all the Headmaster is a trusting man, he is still somewhat wary of our presence and has recalled one of his best to help out with the healing process.”

Ichigo rolled his eyes at that, and was a bit confused. Just how quick was that Ozpin guy that he could seemingly beat Yoruichi here?

“Well I guess we’ll have to find her then, I don’t know where she’s at right now.”

Yoruichi had the nerve to look amused as she replied.

“Why Ichigo, after giving that rousing speech and you can’t even keep track of one of your teammates. For shame.”

Ichigo felt a vein throb as he glared down at the cat, so apparently Ozpin hadn’t beaten her here.

“Is there some kind of T.V. show that I don’t know about that showcases my decisions, because there are a lot of people peeping on me lately.”

Yoruichi stretched languidly before beginning to make her way down the hall from the opposite way that Ozpin went, clearly expecting them to follow her. Ichigo sighed as he glanced at Chad who had decided to keep his silence through most of the conversations that had been happening around him. With a small nod, the two boys began to amble after the black cat.

“I don’t know about a T.V. show, but it’s obvious that I have to keep an eye on my cute little student, no telling what kind of trouble you could get into when on your own. I seem to recall trying to fight Byakuya before you had achieved Bankai.”

Ichigo rolled his eyes at his mentor’s teasing, he had heard worse and he was sure he would hear more.

“In any case, for now let’s find Orihime and Ishida, and then we can convene once more in the room to go over our plan of action for tomorrow.”

Ichigo sighed. So far the day had been fairly boring, aside from the Grimm deciding to try and fire off a Cero. They’d probably need to look into that later.

* * *

Blake’s eyes narrowed as she saw Ichigo and Chad following a black cat back towards their rooms. She was about to follow after them, to see if she could get close enough to hear, but was interrupted by a voice breaking through the silence of the evening.

“Good evening, Belladona-san.”

Blake almost jumped out of her skin, and had snapped a kick out before her mind could catch up to what she was doing. However, the kick sailed harmlessly past Ishida’s nose as he leaned out of the way.

Blake’s wide amber eyes locked with Ishida’s glasses covered ones.

“It seems a nice evening for a walk.”

With that statement, the boy turned around and began to walk in the other direction his friends had taken. Clearly he expected her to follow him.

Although she didn’t want to, she sometimes thought that some of her Faunus heritage really did bleed through. Her insatiable curiosity would not be sated until she had at least a few answers. Sighing, she tried to relax her tense muscles and followed after Ishida.

The two of them walked in silence for a few minutes, the shadows from the setting sun slowly creeping into night.

“You seem to want to know everyone’s secrets for a secret Faunus that has entered into Beacon.”

Well, it seemed that her heart might be pounding quite a bit during this conversation.

“I haven’t met many Faunus in my life, but after reflecting, I now know why you are so introverted to people around you. However, I must say that you somewhat stand out because of it, especially with your partner.”

Blake eyed the black haired boy warily, it seemed that the two of them were two peas in a pod somewhat, he seemed to be observing everyone and everything and seemed to have a disdain for secrets as well.

“It looks as though you have some secrets of your own.”

Blake almost face palmed at her statement. She really needed to work on her interactions with people other than Adam. However, it looked as though Ishida merely found her comment amusing.

“I won’t deny that. It takes one to know one after all. I must insist that you try to curb your interest. We’re not here to hurt anyone, but if you push too hard then one of us might push back. If that happened…”

Blake was suddenly pinned in place by the boy’s stare, the moonlight flashing off his glasses menacingly. It felt as though she were being sighted down the barrel of a high powered sniper rifle, something that her team leader might use.

As soon as the feeling came it was gone, and Blake let out a breath she hadn’t realized that she had been holding.

“…then you might not like what you find.”

Blake’s wide eyes locked with Ishida’s. This was the second time that he had been able to make her feel as though she were nothing but a bug that he could crush at any time. Apparently the one in the forest wasn’t a fluke after all.

Blake blinked and realized Ishida had disappeared from her line of sight. Going into a slight panic she glanced around, but was not able to find him.

Blake shook her head to dispel the lingering feeling of being watched and sighed. She knew that her curiosity might come back to bite her one day, she supposed she would have to figure out how to deal with that later. For the time being she was going to retreat to her room and try to see what type of people her new teammates were.

As she left the courtyard she never noticed the glint of white that was above her on one of the roofs that they had been talking in.

* * *

Orihime blinked as she realized that she might be a little lost.

For one thing she didn’t really recognize any of the surrounding area and for another… she hadn’t actually seen much of the school last night. Since that was the first time she and her group had actually been in the school, it was a bit of a problem. Combined with the fact that she had just gone to classes and had been following the boys for most of the day, she assured herself that the natural thing was to get lost.

_Right! No use freaking out Orihime! We’ll just find someone who looks familiar and we can be on our way back to the dorms!_

“Hello kind angel, are you feeling a bit lost?”

Orihime blinked and turned around to see a blond boy that she vaguely remembered from the Initiation forest and a red headed girl that was also there walking up to her. They both had their attention on her and the timber of the voice asking the question was probably a male. However, it looked as though the girl with him was feeling a bit uncomfortable if the strained smile was anything to go by.

Orihime blinked and tried to remember their names, but was unfortunately coming up with a blank. Deciding that being straightforward was always the best policy (something that she and Kurosaki-kun had in common she had noticed) she bowed in apology before looking up to speak.

“I’m sorry! I don’t remember your names!”

She punctuated this by sticking out her tongue and knocking her head lightly with her fist.

The blond boy seemed to splutter and turn cherry red for a moment, and the girl seemed to take pity on him, deciding to introduce both of them.

“I am Pyrrha Nikos and this is Jaune Arc.”

The girl gestured towards her companion who seemed to be slightly downcast and Orihime thought she might have caught a mumble of confidence before he looked up and smiled.

“Sorry, I suppose I’m not very memorable except for cheesy pick up lines, or so Nora has told me.”

Orihime then connected the faces to name and brought her fist down into the palm of her hand.

“That’s right! You two are on team JNPR! It’s very nice to meet you again. My name is Inoue Orihime!”

Orihime punctuated this with a beaming smile and a small bow. Jaune seemed to be turning red once more, but Pyrrha seemed amicable enough.

“I don’t suppose either of you can point me back towards the dorms, I’ve gotten a little lost.”

Jaune puffed out in self importance, but before he could say anything, Pyrrha cut in, most likely saving her partner from embarrassing himself.

“Of course, it would be our pleasure. We can walk back together, since we’re both heading the same way. Right Jaune?”

The red head then glanced over to her partner who seemed to be looking down. Pyrrha’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

“Jaune?”

The young Amazonian’s voice seemed to snap the knight out of his funk because he locked eyes with the two girls who were staring at him curiously. Shaking himself, the boy began trying to protrude confidence once more.

“Of course, I’m the leader of team JNPR, it’s my job to help any damsel in distress!”

Orihime giggled at that and the three began making their way back towards the dorms. As they were walking Orihime realized they were walking in a different direction than the one she had been taking from before, but decided that she didn’t really need to comment on that. After all they were already making their way to where she needed to be.

A few minutes later and Orihime bid the two farewell. They had made for some nice conversationalists as she walked back and she wouldn’t mind interacting with the two a bit more while they were stuck here.

It was in this mood that she opened her dorm door with a small smile, but froze when four sets of eyes looked her way. Even though she had said that she was fine with the accommodations, the truth was that this was the first time she had been in such close proximity to boys in this setting.

It would probably take a little getting used to.

“The bathroom’s all yours, Orihime.”

Orihime put on another smile, this one a bit more genuine as she got over those feelings while she glanced down at the cat that had just offered her the bathroom.

“Thank you, Yoruichi-san. I think I’ll take my shower now before we discuss anything else.”

Yoruichi merely nodded and the orange haired girl made her way to the bathroom, taking a deep breath as she did so. She would be fine. Nothing was going to happen with her team being there to help her and watch her back, and she would make sure that they stayed in fighting condition.

With a sigh she closed the door with a click.

* * *

Ichigo tried his hardest to ignore the sound of the shower and the steam emanating from the bathroom. It was a bit hard with two other guys and a cat (that was really a woman) trying to do the same, but seemed to be doing a better job comparatively. He was pretty sure it was because Ishida was Ishida, and Chad just kind of had that unflappable nature to him.

Hell, Chad didn’t even seem very bothered that they were in a different world. He was merely leaning on the wall near his bed and had produced some headphones from somewhere. If Ichigo tried he could just make out the faint sound of music blasting away.

Ishida was sitting at one of the desks that had been provided and seemed to be taking detailed notes of something, but Ichigo wasn’t sure what. It could be about the various Grimm they had learned about today or it could be about the various people they had met today, it was a bit of a tossup.

Yoruichi seemed content to curl up for now and take a small catnap. Ichigo wondered if turning into a cat really influenced his second teacher into keeping some mannerisms even when she was in human form.

Shaking his head to try to clear it, Ichigo heard the shower stop. A few minutes later, Orihime came out in modest pajamas and toweling off her hair.

“Well then, since everyone is back, I need to go over a few things with you.”

Ichigo focused his attention on Yoruichi, who had woken up and had somehow positioned herself on his bed without him noticing. Ignoring the amusement gleaming in the cat’s eyes he glanced around the room and nodded once he saw that the rest of his friends were also paying attention.

“I heard about the incident with the Grimm in Port’s class today. It seems as though that is _not_ normal behavior for the creatures so that means that we might be influencing the things. I’m not sure if they always had this ability and we are merely awakening it, or if they are developing something to counter us. These Grimm almost feel like some sort of failed Hollow, but I don’t have enough information to really make any hypothesis yet, that’s more Kisuke’s area of expertise in any case.”

Ichigo rolled his eyes. Apparently they had all of jack and shit to show for how the Grimm was acting today.

“I suppose we’ll move onto other matters. Orihime.”

Orihime straightened at Yoruichi’s stern voice.

For a moment the two women just stared at one another, but it was broken as Yoruichi nodded in acceptance.

“We know that we need to be healing someone for Ozpin soon, it sounds as though they are in a much more dire state than I was previously led to believe. As of right now we still need to wait about a week, because miracle cure or not, the Headmaster is a shrewd man and does not trust easily. I’ve already told Ichigo and Chad this, but this is relevant to all of us. He’s waiting for one of his stronger Huntsmen to return to Beacon before we help. Although it limits us for the time being, it is a smart move on his part.”

Throughout Yoruichi’s briefing, Ichigo couldn’t think of it as anything else, Orihime had a politely puzzled expression. It seemed that the girl was a bit impatient as she decided to speak up once Yoruichi paused to let the information sink in.

“I understand why you want me to know about the healing, but why the rest, Yoruichi-san?”

Yoruichi shook her head in what looked like exasperation.

“You need to know, because these people are desperate, Orihime. They have tried pretty much everything else they can, but it’s not looking good for the woman they are trying to save. I _believe in you_ to be able to do so, but that doesn’t help if you don’t believe in yourself. I think the only thing that can hold you back are your own doubts and fears. Now then…”

Here Yoruichi panned her gaze to the rest of team IUOY. All of them met her gaze without flinching, a far cry from when they had first met her.

“I suppose this might be what a proud parent feels like, get some sleep and be ready for tomorrow, we have some things that have to be taken care of. Also if one of you are selected for a combat spar in Goodwitch’s class, be sure not to hurt anyone too bad. These kids are not Shinigami or Hollows and probably can’t handle the amount of force that all of you put into your attacks.”

Orihime looked slightly surprised at this, but Yoruichi just sighed.

“Yes even you Orihime, I know that you can fix anyone up easily enough, but the point is to show restraint.”

Orihime nodded in agreement and with Yoruichi’s piece said, they all started to get ready for bed.  Tomorrow would be a new day.

* * *

It seemed that Ichigo was going to be annoyed here by bullies once more. Oddly enough (or perhaps not so oddly with everyone else’s hair color being just as outlandish as his own) he wasn’t the one who was being a target for said bullies.

At this particular moment, a group of four boys were harassing what looked to be a (and dear god help him for making this statement) bunny girl.

A girl with two long brown rabbit ears growing form the top of her head. As of right now, Ichigo hadn’t gone over to kick the guys’ collective asses, mostly because the girl seemed to be ignoring them and they were only throwing verbal insults. She seemed to be holding up well and eventually the jackasses moved on and went to get their own breakfast.

Shaking his head, Ichigo looked over at his own eclectic group. His friends were joined by teams JNPR and RWBY and all of them together made for a colorful cast of characters. It was particularly interesting seeing Orihime and Nora together as they slowly made more and more bizarre concoctions that they dug right into. If the helpless look Ren had given Nora had been any indication, this might become a daily morning ritual for the two girls. Well he supposed it was nice that Orihime was making friends.

He glanced to his right to see his longtime friend work steadily through some eggs as Pyrrha made some small talk with Jaune. Chad was following the conversation with interest, but wasn’t really talking as was his habit.

Meanwhile Ruby and Weiss were arguing about some little thing, but it seemed that the heat that used to be there yesterday was either gone or much diminished.

Ishida and Blake seemed to be talking quietly with one another, so that only left himself to deal with Yang. Now he could admit that the blonde girl was attractive enough, but she might have reminded him too much of himself, with an unholy mix of Goat-chin. However, he would put aside judgment until they had more conversations.

“Hellloooo?”

Ichigo blinked and turned his attention back to Yang, who huffed and crossed her arms under her generous chest.

“Geez, it’s like you’d rather be doing something other than talking to my beautiful badass self.”

Ichigo snorted at that, but before Yang could say anything he decided to counter.

“It was more like I was just taking in the scenery around here. Our group is pretty wild. Don’t let it get you down, Yang.”

The blonde bombshell snorted at that, but gave a nod of approval.

“I suppose we are all a bit crazy, but where’s the fun in being boring old sane?”

She punctuated this by slamming her fist into the palm of her hand. Ichigo smirked as his attention drifted once more, but it was snapped back by the blonde.

“Soooo… any idea who you really want to go toe to toe with in Goodwitch’s class? I can tell you right now, I’m gonna be gunning for you and Pyrrha.”

Ichigo snorted at that. He would definitely have to hold back from crushing anyone by accident, he probably wouldn’t even need to use his zanpakuto.

“I don’t mind going against anyone, why do you wanna go against us specifically thought?”

Yang gave a vicious grin at that.

“I’ve heard tell that Pyrrha’s known as the ‘Invincible Girl’ and I wanna put that title to the test. As for you…”

Yang drifted off as she tapped her finger against her chin.

“Probably because you felt hella strong when we left you in that clearing, not to mention the Goliath. I wanna see how my Semblance holds up against you and how strong you really are.”

Ichigo felt an eyebrow rise at that. Clearly Yang was a competitive type, much like himself. While the girl probably wouldn’t come close to even making him draw his weapon, Ichigo felt a challenging smirk creeping across his own face.

“Well, we’ll just have to see. If you can make me draw my blade I’ll consider it your win.”

Yang’s eyes flashed a brief red and Ichigo held back a laugh as the busty blonde growled at him.

“You think it’s gonna be easy to fight me?”

Ichigo shook his head, noticing that most of the table had stopped their conversations and were now looking at both him and Yang. It seemed as though they were looking at Yang more warily than himself.

“I think you might have been one of the top dogs in your previous school, but I’m confident in my abilities. The only way to give any of you a fair fight is to see if you can make me draw my blade. Otherwise the fight would be over in an instant.”

Ichigo felt a bit of amusement as he saw the spark of challenge that went throughout most of the table at that, with the exception of his team and strangely enough Jaune, who was looking around in bemusement at the rest of them. However, of course Ishida was the one to at least call him on some of his bullshit.

“I hope that won’t apply to your own teammates, Kurosaki. Otherwise you’d lose fairly quickly.”

Ichigo scowled at Ishida’s smug grin as the Quincy readjusted his glasses so that the light reflected off them just right.

“Ooohhhh, you two are so going down!”

There was a chorus of “Yeahs” throughout the table and one disturbing “Ima break their legs!” courtesy Nora, but soon they were on their way to Goodwitch’s first class. Ichigo rolled his neck lazily as he stepped into the circular arena like room and made his way to the stands with his team. Unless he was going against one of them, there was probably a zero chance he was going to lose against anyone in this class.

With a yawn he sprawled out on one of the bleacher like seats, with his team taking up positions near him. Chad was a bit behind him and to his right, slouching over as he observed the arena. Ishida was to his left and in front, with Orihime taking up a seat in by the Quincy.

There was some chatter in the classroom as Goodwitch hadn’t arrived yet, but it was mostly amicable white noise.

“Ichigo.”

Ichigo glanced at Chad to see him looking at something. He followed his friend’s line of sight and saw that Pyrrha was giving him a look of determination. It appeared that the awkward girl was gone and in her place stood a warrior about to fight. Her gaze was determined and she held no hint of fear. That was good. She’d need that if she did go up against him.

However, before Ichigo could sweep the arena once more, a door slammed open and the sound of heels clicking against the hardened floor echoed throughout the classroom. A moment later a stern woman with a steely gaze came into the arena.

She held a riding crop loosely in her right hand and was dressed in what Ichigo thought a secretary or office lady might look like. Minus the purple shawl draped over her shoulders.

“Good morning students, please make sure you have taken a seat.”

Her tone brooked no argument from the students and she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose before nodding in satisfaction.

“As you all know I am Professor Glynda Goodwitch. I want all of you to know this, before we begin.”

Goodwitch paused as she swept her gaze over the arena once more.

“I don’t care how well versed you think you are in combat, whether you are a champion of a tournament,” her gaze passed over Pyrrha, “someone who is a brawler,” her gaze swept over Yang, Nora, and Ichigo, “or someone who has been elevated higher because of circumstance,” she swept past Ruby. “Here you are all Huntsmen and Huntress in training and you must remember… there is always someone better than you.”

Goodwitch then walked to the center of the room and a massive screen came down above the arena. At the moment it was blank, but Ichigo was sure that something would be going on there soon enough.

“In this class you will be fighting with your full potential so that I can see how well you will adapt in a fight. Remember, not all fights can be won with brute strength, and not all battles will be of the physical kind. In this classroom this…”

Goodwitch motioned to her temple, indicating her mind for the students.

“… is the most important muscle. Now let’s move onto how you will be evaluated.”

Goodwitch slowly spun as she took in the new faces.

“You will be monitored through your Aura levels that have been connected through an app in your scrolls. For today our fights will be one on one, which will allow me to see all of your perspective levels of combat. Take your scroll out and please use the app now. I will wait until everyone is ready before we continue on.”

Ichigo fumbled a little with the new device that had been given to him and his teammates yesterday. It was similar to a cell phone, but just different enough to cause a bit of trouble. Regardless he was able to find the app and watched as his bar climbed up until it was in the green.

He looked up and saw that everyone else’s attention was once more on Goodwitch, it seemed he was the last to get the doo hickey to work.

“Now that we have configured your Auras to the app we may begin with the duels that will take place today. While there will be variety from time to time, this is a public performance to let you get ready for the various tournaments you will see throughout your tenure here at Beacon. Therefore your classmates will almost always be your audience. Now then, any questions?”

No one raised their hands, but many of the students seemed to feel a tension build up within each other. This was the class that most of them were looking forward to the most after all. They had all come here to prove their skills and Combat Class was one of the most direct ways to do that.

As his classmates practically vibrated with excitement, Ichigo glanced to his friends to see that none of them were particularly on edge about the matches they were about to face. After all, they had faced the life and death struggles within the Soul Society, if they couldn’t fight in front of an audience for sport, then they would have had a problem fighting for their lives.

The only one Ichigo might have been concerned about was Orihime, but he figured, that she would be able to figure something out if worst came to worst.

Goodwitch scanned her crowd of students once more before giving a nod.

It looked like that was some sort of signal because as soon as she did so, the screens that had come down from before lit up and began to roulette through the student’s faces. Ichigo was able to see his face every time it went by, but he wasn’t particularly concerned on whether or not he would be fighting first. If he did, he thought he just might scare some of these students here.

As Ichigo was left to his thoughts, the roulette was slowing down, until most everyone was able to see the faces that were going by. It wouldn’t be long now, the first two students of this new semester were about to duel. At last the machine stopped and Ichigo felt a grin spread across his face as he saw his picture.

“It seems the first duel will be Kurosaki Ichigo versus-”

Next to him was someone that Ichigo had refrained from hitting this morning, well he supposed good things did come to those who wait.

“-Cardin Winchester!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty much just keeping the same note from ff.net again
> 
> I have finished another! At last! I hope it is up to the standard that my first chapter set. Man it was hard to pump this bad boy out, I was just trying to get into a flow and it would not come, I spent a long time stuck at around 3,000 words before I pulled myself together and started kicking it into high gear. I can make a milli0on and one excuses for updating this so late, but it would never be enough, especially since RWBY has really been skyrocketing in my favorite type of media. Anywho a thank you shoutout to cuddlebugCuller for his team name suggestion which I went with. I loved the name and thought it fit, as a thank you, if you PM me or review I’ll send a personal oneshot story of your choice to you, just tell me what.
> 
> This chapter was a bit of character interaction and next will be a bit more fights. Now some of you have been asking for the pairings and I’m still not decided, but when I was writing Yang interacting with Ichigo, I kinda enjoyed it so it might be that, but I don’t know for sure. Also some of you were asking about Urahara, well, he’ll probably be around, this is a man who likes to dick around with dimensions after all.  
> I can’t really think of anything else to say, so onto the usual! Questions, comments, concerns? PM me! No beta still, so any typos, grammar errors, or botch ups are because of that. If you’re feeling kind please leave a review (especially if you feel like chiming in on the pairings, I’m kinda curious) or hit that fav/follow button. I think that’s all, onto the disclaimer, cuz at the bottom’s how I roll!
> 
> Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum! While Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo! Please support the official release!


	3. Strawberry Fields

There was an almost anticipatory silence that permeated the air as Ichigo stood across from the emerging school bully. The two boys had quickly gone to change into their combat gear and now they were sizing each other up from across the small arena that was within the coliseum type classroom that they were taking these lessons in.

Ichigo had seen his fair share of bullies and they always managed to piss him off in one way or another and this idiot was no different. Brown haired, blue eyed, and used his impressive stature to try and prey on the weak.

While he was going out of his way to bully those less fortunate than he, he was also tainting the air with negative emotions. He was pretty sure that he had heard that Port dude say that that was what drew the Grimm to humans in the first place and if Cardin was going to perpetuate that then Ichigo felt that it was his duty to put a stop to it before it really began to get out of hand.

While he would have been fine with a non-sanctioned fight that would have at the very least dissuaded the boy from acting out too much, he supposed that a sanctioned one was interesting enough as well. He was perfectly fine with humiliating the bully in as big an audience as he could. It would make the defeat more memorable for the tall teen.

Ichigo took a minute to examine his opponent more closely as they waited for Goodwitch to start the match. The teen’s biggest factor was his size, but that did little against Ichigo. He was pretty sure Chad was taller and Ichigo himself was no slouch.

The second thing he had noticed was that the brown haired teen was covered in immaculate looking armor that had some sort of bird design splashed across the chest. Ichigo did notice that the armor seemed a bit dented in places and that the shine was probably the result of Cardin caring for his armor just before he went out in public this morning. Whatever else he could say about the boy he knew that the Winchester trained hard to get those dents and cared for his livelihood.

The final thing that Ichigo took in was the boy’s choice of weapon. Cardin was someone who used a massive mace, which gave Ichigo the information that the boy was ridiculously strong for his age group. He probably wasn’t on par with Chad, but nobody was really on Ichigo’s best friend’s level. Chad was some sort of monster in human skin, plain and simple, even though he was probably one of the gentlest souls other than Orihime that Ichigo knew.

“Combatants I want you to be aware of your scrolls and your Aura meters during the fight. It is critical to be observant of these if you are to become competitive within the tournament circuits. I will be the judge of this bout. Once I have called the match you are both to stop _immediately_. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Goodwitch-sensei.”

“Crystal, Professor Goodwitch.”

The blonde haired professor gave each of them a stern look before accepting that she had been able to impart the importance of her words on the two boys.

“Very well then.”

Goodwitch then raised her hand slowly before bringing it down in a decisive motion.

“Begin!”

It seemed that the silence could be contained no longer as various students started cheering for which student they wanted to see win. Ichigo was certain he heard Ruby say something about kicking butt and he was positive that Nora was screaming to “Break his legs!”

Apparently that was going to be something of a trend. He should probably have a conversation with his fellow orange head, but he wasn’t entirely sure he was ready to deal with someone like Kenpachi packed into a tiny slip of a girl.

While the cheers and jeers were washing over them, the two contestants merely stood still for a moment as Cardin slowly slid into his preferred stance. Ichigo approved of it. The boy’s feet were set apart and he was slightly leaning forward in anticipation for an attack. However, while the brown haired boy had taken a stance and lifted his weapon aloft, Ichigo made no move to reciprocate. In fact, Ichigo hadn’t even yet drawn his weapon, standing with his arms to his sides in a loose sort of way. He merely cocked an eyebrow as he waited for Cardin to make the first move.

Apparently this was the wrong thing to do as the older boy scowled at the orange haired teen.

“Are you going to actually draw that over sized can opener, or am I just gonna pound your face in?”

Ichigo felt Zangetsu shift into being more ferocious within his mind, but he was able to calm the blade down by stating that the kid didn’t know any better. For all that Cardin was older than Ichigo; he still had a lot of things to learn about the world.

The only interesting thing to come from this exchange was the fact that some of the cheers had turned into confused murmurs, as if they couldn’t quite believe that Ichigo was simple standing there. Ichigo decided that he would see just how strong the older boy’s resolve was (although he had a pretty good idea).

“I think that with the level of resolve you carry your weapon, you won’t even be able to put a scratch on me.”

His words had the intended effect of quieting the crowd and riling the older boy up. There was a snarl of incoherent rage that was heard by all as Cardin suddenly sprinted at the orange haired boy. Before anyone (other than team IUOY) could stop him or knew what was happening, Cardin was already swinging his mace in a two handed grip towards Ichigo’s exposed chest (he was wearing his Shinigami outfit after all).

The mace collided with Ichigo’s chest full on and it seemed that even Cardin was caught off guard by the fact that Ichigo didn’t even try to dodge. In fact it looked as though the boy might actually be slightly horrified at the prospect that he might have just killed a student. That was good, Ichigo could work with that. He was also able to see that Cardin was practically _reeking_ of fear. He supposed that that was more typical of a bully than one might expect.

Ichigo was about to say something, but Goodwitch beat him to it.

“Mr. Winchester!”

Cardin winced at the tone directed at him, but Ichigo paid it no mind. With Cardin’s attention on Goodwitch, he was no longer seeing Ichigo and most likely thought he had just accidentally killed someone in a fit of rage.

“We never condone attacking someone who does not have their guard up in the training arena! Quick, get Mr. Kurosaki-”

Ichigo decided it was probably a good idea to step in before he wasn’t able to drive home his point.

“Actually Goodwitch-sensei….”

Pretty much everyone’s attention snapped back to Ichigo, who was standing with Cardin’s mace on his chest looking entirely fine as though a gigantic man hadn’t just swung his weapon at him with full force. A few of them looked over to his aura gauge and were amazed that it hadn’t even gone down. It was as if Ichigo hadn’t even taken the hit.

“…I’m perfectly fine.”

Cardin slowly backed away from Ichigo, his mace now hanging limp in his right hand.

“But…I…”

Ichigo merely shook his head in disappointment at the future bully. He didn’t want to break Cardin down, but it was a necessary step in order to show him what he needed to do in order to grow as both a person and a fighter.

“I told you, with that type of resolve, you won’t be able to put a scratch on me.”

Ichigo’s eyes flashed as he took in everything about Cardin and remembered that quick spark that allowed him to understand why Cardin was trying to become a Huntsmen. All Ichigo could see was the one thing he hated in any sort of warrior, _fear_. Geta-boshi had had to beat the fear out of him and it was the only way he really knew how to help Cardin.

“All I’m feeling from you is _fear_ , Cardin. It’s the overriding emotion within your soul. I’m sure that when you dodge, you think to yourself, ‘I’m afraid of getting hit.’ When you try and protect someone you’re thinking, ‘I’m afraid of letting them die.’ When you try to attack, ‘I’m afraid of hurting someone.’

These are unnecessary things within a fight Cardin.”

Ichigo slowly began to stalk forward as he continued on, not realizing that he had captured everyone in the classroom’s attention.

“When you dodge you should be thinking, ‘I _won’t_ get hit.’ When you are protecting someone, ‘I _won’t_ let them die.’ And finally if you’re attacking, ‘ _I_ _will hit them!_ ’”

His piece said Ichigo cocked his fist back and the students felt an intent flood the room, Cardin seemed to snap out of his stupor because he raised his weapon, but it did nothing. Ichigo merely weave around a rather weak swing and then sent a jab into the walking tank’s chest.

It was fast and brutal, but Ichigo completely demolished the older boy’s armor and smashed straight to his chest, blowing through the aura and armor with the piercing ability he had learned against Kenpachi. While the Aura thing was somewhat cute, they had nothing on the monster that was the 11th Squad Captain.

Cardin’s eyes immediately rolled into the back of his head and he went down like a puppet with his strings cut off, the boy’s Aura immediately turning to the red.

There were a few heartbeats where there was complete silence in the room and then there was nothing but chaos.

“Holy shit! Did he just _punch_ through Cardin’s Aura!?”

“Forget the Aura, he blasted through Cardin’s armor _with his bare fist!_ ”

“Is getting through Aura with one punch a thing!? Why did no one tell me it was a thing!?”

“God damn! He just laid out that guy!”

Ichigo ignored the commentators as he looked over a Glynda. She seemed to be just as shocked as the other people within the room if her gaping mouth was anything to go by. Honestly you’d think that after she had seen him demolish a Goliath that she would be able to open her mind up to the possibilities that he could take care of himself pretty easily.

“I think you need to call the match, Goodwitch-sensei.”

Ichigo’s soft voice seemed to cut through the various freak outs going around in the classroom and Glynda cleared her throat to draw everyone’s attention to her once more.

“Yes, it seems that I should. The winner of the match, Kurosaki Ichigo! Would the rest of team CRDL please take your leader to the infirmary to be examined?”

Ichigo nodded once at the boys who ambled down to collect their leader and they decided to give him a wide berth as he made his way back to his seat with his own team. Ishida was shooting him annoyed looks as he made his way back to his seat, but Ichigo couldn’t really figure out why until he took a glance around the room.

 It seemed that he was drawing every eye in the crowd and too late he remembered Yoruichi’s advice of laying low. He groaned internally as he imagined the lecture that the black cat would try and enforce upon him. He could already tell it was going to annoy the hell out of him.

 Well there was no use cry over spilt milk, a metaphor he was sure that Yoruichi concurred with. He would just have to deal with his minor fame as it came along. He was sure that just like most schools this episode would die down and fade from everyone’s minds in time.

* * *

Blake was now fairly certain that she was having a mini panic attack within her mind. It felt as though every time she interacted with the glasses wearing boy from team IUOY that it always ended in disaster for her. The boy just felt so distinctly different from all her other peers that she couldn’t help but be curious.

Now she had seen what the orange haired leader of the team could do.

She was certain that when he had stated that the various people at the table wouldn’t be able to even make him draw his weapon that he had been joking. It had also lit a competitive fire in her that she had seen reflected in all the others’ eyes.

Apparently it was _not_ a joke.

She was sure that all of the others were coming to their own realizations of that as the orange haired leader made his way back to his team. It looked as though her danger senses about the team in general were more spot on than she had thought.

While she wasn’t a fan of the burgeoning bully that Cardin had been, especially his treatment in regards to Faunus, she had _never_ seen someone just _punch_ through another person’s Aura like Ichigo just had. It made the teen distinctly memorable.

“Holy shit. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

Ignoring their young leader’s reprimand of Yang using as she called it “Bad Words” Blake had to agree with her partner. The hidden Faunus glanced over towards the blonde. While her partner definitely seemed more wary of Ichigo now, she also had a competitive glint in her eye that screamed of trying to challenge the other leader. It seemed that her partner enjoyed a challenge. She supposed that was consistent with what she had seen so far.

“I don’t know why you guys are all surprised; this is the leader of the team that took down that huge Grimm in the Initiation.”

It seemed that the voice of reason would come from none other than the leader of team JNPR. While Blake hadn’t interacted much with the blond boy, she was surprised that he was able to just shrug off the feat that had just happened as nothing too surprising, although if Blake thought about it in the context that he had she supposed she could see his point.

It looked as though her own leader was willing to speak up on the issue as well.

“Yeah! I mean, Ichigo and his team are _super_ strong, they had to have been to have fought the Goliath when we first met them!”

Blake could definitely agree with that statement, seeing as how she kept on being threatened by the black haired boy of the team. She wasn’t sure exactly what she had done to get under the boy’s skin (other than him just being the sort to hate secrets being kept from him), but he hadn’t told anyone her secret so she supposed she was grateful to that for the time being.

Finally the students were calming down as Goodwitch gained command of her classroom once more. While they were all suitably shocked at how effortlessly Ichigo had decimated the tall Huntsman-in-training, this was still a class and there were more fights to be had within the classroom.

“Thank you for the demonstration Mr. Kurosaki, but please draw your weapon next time so as to avoid any kind of confusion in signaling whether you are ready for combat or not.”

Ichigo gave a languid shrug down at the teacher, seemingly completely oblivious to the storm that he had created with his actions.

“If they can make me draw my blade, then their resolve is strong enough.”

Blake blinked at that kind of presumptuous attitude that Ichigo had displayed earlier in the day, but it carried quite a bit more weight now that he had proven that he could back his claims up.

“Very well, for the time being we will continue on with random placements to decide who will fight who. Later on we will let you volunteer and there will be matches that will allow you to test your mettle.”

Her instruction done, Goodwitch flipped a switch and they began their matches. Nothing quite came close to matching the exciting first match, but they were entertaining fights nonetheless. Most were over fairly quickly, but there had been a couple of longer matches within the fights.

Yang and Nora had been paired up and their match had devolved to the two berserkers essentially slugging it out until one of them ran into the red (apparently Yang could take a hit slightly better than the hammer wielding girl) and there was an interesting tie in Weiss and Ruby who had had a bout.

Eventually they went through most of the students gathered there. Team IUOY had been called on twice more, once with Orihime and the other with Chad, and both had won their fights handily. They had both faced off against another of Cardin’s teammates and won easily enough, Chad with his sheer power and fighting ability and Orihime by wearing her opponent down before utilizing a throw to cause a ring out.

The last member of team CRDL had the misfortune of going up against Pyrrha and the only fight that had been faster was most likely Ichigo’s. Jaune and Ren’s fight had ended with the black haired boy completely dominating the fight.

As the competitors slowly dwindled down, some of the students going to the infirmary to make sure none of the hits did any lasting damage, Blake realized something.

While all of her team had gone she had yet to be called. The only other competitor that was really left was Ishida. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to face the white clad boy from team IUOY. Of course she apparently forgot that the universe hated her.

 There was a moment when she felt as though her breath might have stopped when her picture flashed onto the screen next to the glasses wearing boy. Her encounters had not ended well for her so far with him and while she knew she was curious she couldn’t imagine exactly why the teen was so keen on scaring her into submission. All it really did was make her think that the team as a whole was hiding something.

She snorted at the thought as she made her way down to the arena. Although she had been on the receiving end of the boy’s scrutiny and he had somehow figured out her own secret, she felt as if he was doing it to protect his own team from her insatiable curiosity. People always seemed to forget the second phrase to the curiosity killed the cat saying. She was sure that the satisfaction would be well worth it.

The two made their way to the arena that had seen its fair share of fights all day and was now looking a little worse for wear. Professor Goodwitch stood waiting for them with her hands clasped behind her back. The blonde haired professor had been observing all of the matches so far, and with the exception of the first one, she had been able to keep her cool as teenagers beat the hell out of each other.

“I assume that the two of you know the rules well enough by now. Make sure to keep an eye on your Aura gauges and stop once I call the match.”

She paused as both of them slid into a loose stance. She noticed a bracelet dangling from the boy’s wrist with a peculiar looking cross on it and he seemed content to merely stand with his feet apart and wait for the match to start. Blake was sure that he was trying to analyze her if the glint from his glasses as they stood apart from one another was anything to go by.

The two teens gave a nod of acknowledgement towards the Professor and she raised her hand up as she had done countless times since she had started the class today.

“Begin!”

Her hand dropped once more and Blake wasted no time in crossing the arena floor, sticking close to the ground as she did so. She got in Ishida’s face in an instant and led with an upward slash towards him.

She was surprised when Gambol Shroud connected with something that stopped her momentum cold. Her eyes widened as she took in some form of sword that Ishida was wielding that was letting off a small hum.

However, the boy dressed in white didn’t stay that way for long as he suddenly lashed out with a kick that connected and she was sent sailing away from him. With a small flip she landed gracefully on the other side of the arena. While the hit had hurt more than she had though it would from the slim boy, she glanced at her gauge and was glad to see that not too much damage had been done.

“It seems that Kurosaki is not the only one who has to deal with someone full of fear and doubt.”

Blake felt herself tense at that comment. Even in passing, comparing her to Cardin made her blood boil. The tall teen hadn’t done anything too extreme as of yet, but she had been seeing his like her entire life. She decided that she would show this holier-than-thou boy what she thought of his opinions.

“ _Don’t_ compare me to him.”

With a flourish Gambol Shroud changed into its gun form and she put forth some suppressing fire to keep him occupied. While she was doing that she unfurled the ribbon within her weapon and flung it towards her opponent.

Unfortunately he easily dodged the attack and gained ground as he hit aside a few of her dust rounds. Blake’s eyes widened at that, but then she was on the defensive from his strange sword. She was able to hold him back for a moment, but ultimately it was not enough and he was able to gain another clean hit on her as they broke apart from their dance.

Blake was beginning to feel the fight if her erratic breathing was anything to go by. She was going to have to be a bit more creative with her strategies if she wanted to catch her opponent off guard. It almost seemed as if he was anticipating her moves before she even made them.

“I’d say it’s because your expression is a bit too open, even when you’re trying to keep it guarded.”

She almost dropped her weapon at that, but merely huffed in annoyance. Her eyes then shifted from her opponent’s weapon to take in more about him. She was a little peeved that his expression hadn’t seemed to have changed throughout the entire course of the fight. In fact, she was pretty certain that all that was there was apathy. However, if she looked deeper she might be able to see another emotion as well, one that she couldn’t identify.

“I suppose I should also apologize for my treatment of you. Despite the fact that I can be a bit paranoid, I shouldn’t have taken out my frustrations on you. As an apology I’ll make this quick.”

With that said, the black haired boy straightened his stance and made it so that he was standing with as little of his body facing her as possible.

“As a courtesy I’ll tell you this now, my Semblance is unique in that any kind of weapon I use…”

Blake’s eyes widened as the blue former of the saber suddenly distorted and a beautiful shining bow was now in the teen’s hands.

“…is always some type of bow.”

With that said he immediately fired off a shot that Blake was just barely able to bring her weapon up to deflect it. Unfortunately, not only was Ishida’s accuracy with a bow extremely proficient, he was also incredibly fast as well. Once she had blocked the first attack two more sprang to life in front of her and Blake felt her eyes widen as she found that she would not be able to dodge in any way shape or form.

She felt the two arrows hit her like a truck and she was sure that she was knocked off her feet. Apparently it still wasn’t enough to completely knock her out thankfully, but those two clean hits made her Aura plummet into the red.

“Enough!”

Goodwitch’s voice rang out within the arena and Ishida immediately let go of the form of his bow. Blake watched in a sort of morbid fascination as it disappeared into blue motes of light.

“The winner is Ishida Uryuu! Well done.”

Goodwitch continued on as Blake groggily got to her feet and looked towards her team. While they looked disappointed that she had lost, she saw that Yang was giving her a discrete thumb up before turning her attention back to the professor.

“That was a well fought first day. I want all of you to go over what you have learned from your fights today and be ready for more in the days to come. Remember that your Aura gauge is the most accurate way to tell how you fare within the match that you are in. And remember that this…”

Here Goodwitch tapped her forehead in significance.

“…is the greatest weapon that you have.”

With one more glance around the room, the students were dismissed. Blake was pretty sure that her ears were still ringing (both of them) and that she probably needed to go and see what was going on in the infirmary. With a sigh she followed after her teammates as they walked out into the halls with Yang gloating that she was the only one who had technically won their match in the first Combat Class, earning her the glares from the rest of the team.

Blake supposed she would just let Yang gloat for the time being, she just wanted to go and find something for the headache that she had.

* * *

Ichigo had thought that the hype about his win over Cardin would die down within a week, but he was slowly coming to realize that he was dead wrong. All of the other matches that he had had in the time since had ended in much the same fashion without him interjecting his speech on fear before giving whoever was his opponent a swift defeat. He had become essentially undefeated and he was sure that some of the contestants were beginning to eye him with a glint that he recognized as vaguely reminiscent of Kenpachi.

He was sure that as soon as the ban of volunteering was lifted that he would most likely have a slew of challengers that kept on coming to him non-stop. He didn’t mind as much as he probably should have, but he was sure that eventually he would get annoyed at constantly being challenged by people who just weren’t on his level yet.

He supposed he had gotten spoiled with the fights that he had had to deal with in Soul Society and he knew that in his heart of hearts he had enjoyed them more than was probably good for him.

Oh well, he guessed he would just have to take the hits as they came.

Oddly enough he hadn’t really seen the tall boy act out ever since his beat down that he had received. Ichigo supposed that he was able to get through to the tall teen after all. Team CRDL as a whole seemed to have become more focused and Ichigo thought that it was nothing but a good thing that could come from that.

Everyone here was training to be a defender of Humanity and while there were quite a few differences to the Shinigami that he had seen, he suspected that there were quite a few similarities. Ichigo just couldn’t shake the feeling that something bigger was going on around in this society than what he could see. Then again he was only within a school. True the teens here were for the most part normal teens, but maybe that was the reason he was so baffled.

They were definitely facing the extinction of the human race on this planet, but the world seemed more at peace than was natural. He was impressed at the fact that there were even cities within the kingdoms that had sprouted up. He supposed his thoughts could be for another time.

At the moment they were once more at the breakfast table joined by teams RWBY and JNPR. Currently Nora was discussing some sort of story that Ichigo was fairly certain was a crazy dream and for some reason Ren had intimate knowledge of said dream.

Jaune was looking forlornly into his cereal as he had been bested in every fight he had had so far, though he at least seemed to be getting slightly better. Everyone else who had won on that first day had also been draw off of their high horses due to the fact that everyone had been defeated at least once even the people in Ichigo’s own team. True they had all been ring outs, but the fact that they lost was still in the cards (Ishida and Chad had both lost to Pyrrha, who had done something to throw them off balance before capitalizing).

In fact the only two undefeated within the group were Ichigo and Pyrrha. He was sure that the redhead was going to challenge him to a match as soon as she was able. That date was fast approaching as they neared one week being spent in this new reality. Ichigo was beginning to be a little concerned at the fact that Geta-boshi hadn’t been able to contact them the entire time they were here.

It had become so concerning that Yoruichi had gone out into the city to see if there was some sort of message out there that they had been missing as they stayed at Beacon. For the time being it looked as though the four teens from an alternate reality were flying solo.

“Are you ready for the matches today, Ichigo?”

Ichigo slid his attention to the redhead, ignoring the twinge of annoyance at her using his first name. The culture was completely different here and had more of a Western feel.

“I’ve been looking forward to that more than I probably should. You might be one of the only people here that can make me draw my blade.”

Ichigo had stuck to his guns and only used hand to hand in all of his bouts thus far. However, he wasn’t entirely sure he could do that against Pyrrha. The girl was unbelievably skilled. She was the only person to have taken out Chad so far and had only won due to her somehow throwing the big teen off balance for an instant. It had resulted in a ring out and the win had been given to Pyrrha.

He was sure that the red haired girl didn’t have the complete dominance in power, but she made up for it by being scarily smart in her battle prowess. The only person he had personally seen that reminded him of her was probably Yoruichi. The two utilized others’ powerful strikes to redirect the momentum of a fight and turn it to their advantage. Combine that with what he was pretty sure was some sort of polarity Semblance (he had figured that out when he had seen Chad sent flying out of the ring and the gentle giant talked about it later on that day commenting that he had felt his usual belt buckle give a strange tug before he was thrown from the ring) and the girl was probably one of the strongest fighters at Beacon that wasn’t a teacher or him.

It looked as though his comment had kept the fire lit in the other girl’s eyes as well if he was judging her expression right. She looked as though she could hardly wait until they had gotten into another Combat Class.

However, it seemed that their little oasis of calm was about to be interrupted.

“I think you might be a bit busy during that class of yours, kid.”

Ichigo blinked at the unfamiliar voice butting into their conversation and turned his head to see a man leaning casually on one of the support pillars that dotted the cafeteria. He immediately set all of Ichigo’s danger senses on alert, something that he hadn’t really had happen while he was here except for whenever Ozpin was around.

The man was dressed in a grey button down shirt and had on black shoes and slacks, a maroon cape slung over his shoulder. He had a somewhat scraggly appearance, with a beard growing in and his hair looking somewhat unkempt. He was looking over the group with assessing red eyes and Ichigo was able to see that he had some sort of weapon being held in the spot where Ruby was fond of storing her own Crimson Rose.

Ichigo was going to ask who the hell the guy thought he was, but he was beaten to the punch by a high squeal of joy and suddenly a red tornado passed him and clung to the now amused looking man’s upheld arm. Ichigo blinked at that and subtly looked toward his team to see if they had any idea what had gotten into the leader of team RWBY. The blank stares that he received back were at least able clear up the fact that they had no idea what to make of this predicament either.

“Uncle Qrow!”

Well, Ruby’s exuberant greeting was at least able to inform anyone who was in the area exactly what relationship the two had and gave them a name to work with.

“Did ya miss me!? Did ya miss me!?”

The man seemed to think it over for a minute before offering up a devilish smirk to the girl clad in red.

“Not even a little bit.”

Ichigo had to admit that it was somewhat amusing to see the wind taken out of Ruby’s sails so effortlessly, if the puffing out of cheeks in indignation at her uncle’s antics was anything to go by.

A soft meow drew the attention of the teens gathered around the table and Ichigo was startled to see that Yoruichi had made her way to the other shoulder currently being unoccupied by the weapon nut. Apparently Ruby’s uncle was some sort of big shot if the way Yoruichi was looking at their group was anything to go by.

“Yeah, yeah, business before pleasure and all that.”

Ichigo blinked at that. Apparently Yoruichi had decided to let Qrow in on her ability to talk. It was the only explanation Ichigo could think of to be able to understand why Qrow would be taking orders from a cat perched on his shoulder.

The man flung Ruby off his arm, but the girl merely laughed as she performed a flip and landed in a flurry of rose petals.

“It was nice to see you, Ruby. Yang.”

He gave a small nod to both of the girls before turning his attention to team IUOY.

“While I’d like to catch up with the two of you, sadly duty calls and I’ll have to take a rain check.”

Ichigo heard Yang snort at that declaration.

“Flighty as ever, Uncle Qrow.”

Qrow’s smirk merely widened at that, seemingly pleased with the statement his blonde haired niece had made.

“You know me, girls. I take my job _very_ seriously.”

There was a moment when the three merely looked at one another after the man had said that, but then they all burst into laughter.

It was ended as Qrow decided to address the team he had come to see in the first place.

“Ozpin wants a word with you, team IUOY.”

Ichigo and his friends tensed at the more serious tone that the man had said this in. While he seemed to be somewhat laid back, it wouldn’t do to assume every little thing about the man was the same way. He was obviously extremely competent if he had the Headmaster’s ear and was able to talk to Yoruichi.

“Alright, lead the way.”

Ichigo stood from the table and his friends followed his lead as usual.

Qrow grinned at that, his playful demeanor coming to the forefront once more now that the message had been delivered.

“I feel like ya need to loosen up, kid. Life’s too short to be stressed all the time.”

With that said the man turned around and began leading team IUOY out of the cafeteria and towards the main building that Ozpin resided in during the day, leaving behind a confused group of two other teams.

It was infinitely quieter on the grounds of the school since the majority of students were eating at the moment. As they made their way towards Ozpin’s building Ichigo and his friends were content to pass the trip in silence, giving an occasional nod to the students passing by on their way to classes.

“So apparently you guys are supposed to be pretty strong.”

It looked as if Qrow wasn’t in the mood for a quiet stroll if his speaking up was anything to go by. Ichigo felt his signature scowl deepen at the man’s almost mocking tone, but he was saved from answering by the bubbly female on their team.

“I think that everyone here is amazing! This place as a whole is awesome! I’m having fun learning about the various things in regards to Vale and Remnant!”

Qrow blinked at the girl’s somewhat non-sequitur. He got over his surprise fairly quickly though if the low chuckle was anything to go by.

“Not what I was leading toward, kid, but I suppose it’s nice that you’re settling in, wouldn’t want our inter-dimensional travelers not to fit in after all.”

Ichigo and the others tensed at his casual declaration of knowing about their status as travelers, something that he was pretty sure Yoruichi hadn’t actually told the staff when she had met with them the first time. He was beginning to wonder if he should try and take out the man who probably knew too much.

“Relax. Good ol’ Oz had you pegged the minute you took out that Goliath by yourselves. It’s something that not even I would be comfortable letting kids your age try. By the way, how old are all of you? While you all carry yourselves pretty maturely, there’s still a hint of some gangliness, like you’re not entirely used to the sizes your bodies have become. So either you’ve all been de-aged in some sort of weird time travel thing, or you’ve all recently hit puberty.”

Ichigo blinked at that rather spot on assessment of them and his danger sense of this man went up a notch. If he could get all of that information just from looking at them, then he was someone who was incredibly adept at gathering information. Probably someone who was entrenched in whatever sort of cloak and dagger activities going on within this world.

Before any of them spoke, Yoruichi decided to let her own voice be heard.

“I can already tell this coming conversation is going to annoy the hell out of me, don’t keep adding to the stress, Qrow.”

Ichigo blinked, somewhat amazed that his teacher was already on a first name basis with the hobo looking man. He supposed there was more to the man than he had thought if Yoruichi had already revealed that she could talk to him (mostly due to the fact that the man wasn’t freaking out about a talking cat, it was a pretty good litmus) and that she seemed to be fairly comfortable on the man’s shoulder, as if she had been there for the past few days.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s just get this over with, Oz is probably gonna ask for some sort of miracle to work, but I’m still not entirely convinced that these kids can pull it off. And if they can, there’s gonna have to be some sort of price. It’s how these sort of things usually work.”

Ichigo rolled his eyes at that, but the rest of his team stayed silent with the exception of their female teammate once more.

“You’re not a very trusting person, are you Qrow-san?”

Qrow merely let out a huff of laughter before pulling out a small silver flask from somewhere on his person and taking a generous sip.

“Princess, you don’t get in the business that I’m in and trust easily if you want to live long.”

With that said they finally made it to the building that housed Ozpin’s office and made their way to the elevator.

As they were going up Ichigo noticed that Ishida’s eyes narrowed in thought towards the floor. He was sure that his glasses wearing friend was calculating something in that head of his, but he honestly had no idea what it could be. Ichigo figured that if it was anything _truly_ important than the other teen would break his silence and warn them of any incoming danger.

“Just to let ya know, just ‘cause I don’t trust ya, doesn’t mean that I don’t respect ya.”

Ishida was the one to answer this time as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, the artificial light of the elevator glinting off of them.

“It’s just as easy to respect your enemies as it is your friends, a prudent way to live I suppose, but most likely lonely in the long run.”

Qrow merely smirked at the comment and took another swig from his flask. Ichigo supposed that that was the best sort of answer they would be getting from the dark haired man.

There was a quiet ding as the elevator reached their destination and the four teens followed after Qrow as he walked into Ozpin’s office.

There was a green tint to the room, probably due to the windows, while various gears were slowly churning within the office. It was more massive than Ichigo had been expecting and if the curious looks on his friends’ faces were anything to go by, then they too were suitably impressed at the extravagance before them.

Directly in front of them, sitting at a desk that had much the same theme as the rest of the room was their elusive Headmaster. Currently his ever present mug was sitting on his desk steam lazily drifting upward from it as the man himself sate with his hands furled in front of his face. Standing somewhat behind him and to his right was their stern Combat Class professor.

As soon as he saw them enter, Ozpin gave a small smiling and gestured towards the four chairs that had been placed in front of the desk.

“Welcome. Please have a seat.”

Ichigo and his team warily sat down and Yoruichi relocated to Orihime’s shoulder while Qrow made his way over to the other side of the desk, taking his place on Ozpin’s left and leaning against a pillar within the room with his arms crossed.

There was a beat of silence as the four teens got comfortable, but it was broken fairly quickly by the Headmaster.

“I believe that I am the one holding all of the cards at the moment in this bargaining stage.”

The man clicked something in his hand and suddenly there were various screens around the desk that showcased what had happened when the Grimm had been charging its bastardized cero.

“We have been studying the creatures of Grimm for quite a long time, and I think that it is safe to say that we have _never_ seen one begin to attempt the move that it is displaying here. However…”

Ozpin clicked something else and with a jolt Ichigo realized that now he and his friends were on the screens within the classroom. He watched on in interest as Ishida and Orihime worked in tandem to take down the Grimm and keep the casualties to a minimum.

“…it seems that your team was quite prepared for the threat.”

Ichigo leaned back in his chair at that statement. He knew that Qrow had let on that Ozpin knew of the fact that they had probably traveled between dimensions somehow, but he hadn’t expected the man to put two and two together with the footage that he was seeing.

“Just what do you want out of this, Headmaster? We’ve already agreed to help you and with the recalling of Qrow, I believe it’s time to fulfill our end of the bargain. If these videos are something that’s showing you proof of something, please enlighten us.”

Ozpin sighed as he once more steepled his hands at the black cat’s response. Ichigo was also a bit confused as to why the man was showing them this video as if it was some sort of evidence.

“I just wanted us to be on the same page. I’ve showed this to both Qrow and Glynda, but have refrained from showing it to any other colleagues. Quite frankly, I believe we have a mole in our system somewhere that is feeding the other side all the information that they could want.”

Ichigo nodded at that, he supposed that being discrete about them was probably a good practice seeing as Ichigo and his friends didn’t really exist outside of the school.

“This was the thing that allowed me to confirm my suspicions with Qrow. Who I believe has now completely confirmed them.”

He paused as the man leaning against the pillar interrupted.

“Yeah, they’re some sort of dimensional travelers, they were definitely too shocked to be able to play it off as a joke when I dropped those suspicions on their heads.”

Ichigo blinked at the Hunter’s admission. Wait that had been some sort of hidden test!? The Substitute Shinigami tried to look over at Yoruichi, but the cat was giving nothing away.

“Thankfully, even if I did somehow make that claim to others, they would merely see it as a joke, or a prank of some sort. In this case, truth is far stranger than fiction.”

Ozpin took a minute to take a sip from his mug.

“However, in the cases of fictions, I am no stranger to things stepping out of legend.”

Before the Headmaster could go on, Qrow had interjected.

“Oh come on, Oz! I still say that they’re too green for the job you think they can handle. I’m also not entirely sure that she…”

Here he pointed at Orihime, who flinched back a little at the aggressive gesture.

“…can do what the cat says she can do. I’ll admit that dimension hopping is pretty out there, but how are we gonna believe that the girl can heal anything, even having your soul torn in half?”

While Orihime was looking a bit nervous at those statements, Ichigo decided to grab a problem by the horns as he always did.

“Look, pal. We already know about the person that’s under this tower. We know that there’s a problem. Orihime is the best damn healer I’ve ever seen and my dad’s a doctor! If Yoruichi thinks that Orihime can heal whatever is going on, then Orihime will damn well be able to heal whatever is going on!”

Ichigo didn’t notice the slight dusting of red that spread across Orihime’s cheeks as the orange haired boy defended her, but some of the others in the room did.

Qrow took a minute to look the teen up and down, before he defaulted back into his lazily cocky posture.

“I’ve seen a lot of things kid, but it’s pretty tough to beat what has happened to the person that’s waiting down in the underbelly of this tower. How’d you know that she was here anyway?”

Ichigo glanced at Ishida and while the glasses wearing boy looked a bit annoyed he had also realized how Ichigo had come to his conclusion.

“Once Ishida started sending suspicious looks down at the elevator floor I extended my own senses and was able to sense her there.”

Qrow let out a low whistle at that. Apparently he was impressed at getting one upped by a bunch of teenagers.

“Props for that then. However, I can tell you right now that I don’t think you’re ready for what we need to tell you to heal her. It’s something that I’ve been working towards all my adult life to keep a secret. Why should we have to break our silence now to a buncha dimensional brats who _might_ be able to help.”

Ichigo felt a bit of his temper begin to flair and as a result so did his reiatsu. A blast of that had the three teachers suddenly staring at him much more warily than before and he heard Yoruichi sigh in exasperation. That was the only warning before he was clawed in the face.

“Gah! What the hell!?”

It had the intended effect of getting himself back under control, but it had hurt like hell. It didn’t help that the damn cat was looking entirely unapologetic.

“I told you before to try and keep a lid on your reiatsu here. That was for being an idiot and not following my advice. Maybe next time you can go Bankai and accidentally kill half the students here.”

While it was said in a joking tone, it seemed that the teachers were not going to take that threat lying down. Ozpin was the one to interject before Qrow could make the orange haired teen even more riled up.

“Is it possible for Mr. Kurosaki to actually be able to do that?”

Yoruichi snorted at that, but she made a sort of shrug with her feline shoulders (it was incredibly odd to see a cat shrug).

“I supposed it might be possible, but highly unlikely. Ichigo has to actively choose to give that much outpouring of energy and even the bit you felt was him being annoyed more than anything.”

Ichigo pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes as he took in a deep breath and then let it out as he tried to center himself more. He had been doing pretty well in reigning in his massive reiatsu and he didn’t want to accidentally kill anyone regardless of what Yoruichi said. He hadn’t been expecting to be this annoyed when he was talking to the people within this room.

“I think the kid needs a test.”

Ichigo’s eyes snapped open and his chocolate brown ones met Qrow’s blood red.

“If you have that much faith in them, Oz, then it shouldn’t be any kind of problem to test them out a bit right?”

Ozpin merely sighed at that. He couldn‘t deny that Qrow’s idea had some merit. He was sure that his ornery Huntsman would be able to push Ichigo more than any of the students at the moment. Ozpin had seen the videos of the matches that the teen had been in and he was certain that no one with the exception of the boy’s team and _possibly_ Miss Nikos would be able to actually force him to use his weapon.

“Very well.”

Ichigo was a bit surprised at Ozpin caving into the older Huntsman’s request, but he supposed that the man just wanted to see what would happen when the two clashed and if he was able to keep calm under pressure.

With a nod, Qrow made his way over to the teens and they stood up to size the older man up.

“Well then, kids, let’s see if your leader has what it takes.”

His piece said, the man began making his way towards the elevator.

“Follow me and we’ll get this over with quickly.”

Sighing Ichigo stood up and followed the raven haired man out.

* * *

They had travelled out into the forest that they had been in during the Initiation and the older Huntsman was looking around at the clearing that they had found. Ichigo had retrieved Zangetsu and was scowling at the man with his arms crossed in annoyance.

He was a bit pissed that he had to somehow prove himself to this maniac Huntsman and he just wanted to get the show on the road already. It looked as if Qrow had other ideas though.

“Alright, this should probably be good.”

The man spun on a dime and fluidly drew his weapon in a smooth motion. Now that Ichigo was able to see it better he realized that it was a sword, but he was certain that it had different modes just like all of the other weapons he had seen in this world so far.

“Now, this isn’t a sanctioned fight so we’re not going to deal with pesky Aura bars. We’re just gonna wail on each other until one of us yields.”

Ichigo narrowed his eyes at that. He had the feeling that Qrow was severely underestimating him. Well he would show the smug bastard just what happened to people who did that.

“If that’s the way you want it to go.”

His friends had taken up positions in tree branches and were watching on in curiosity as Qrow took a stance, but Ichigo didn’t budge. He was also able to see the other two full fledged Hunters out of the corner of his eye.

“I think I’ll mediate for this duel, Qrow.”

Qrow scoffed at Glynda’s words, but he gave a small nod of acceptance. Not before muttering under his breath though.

“Tch, taking the fun outta everything.”

Glynda merely rolled her eyes before bringing her hand up much as she had to begin all the other fights that he had seen in this school.

“If that’s all, begin!”

The woman brought her hand down and Qrow wasted no time in getting up in Ichigo’s face.

Ichigo’s eyes widened as he realized that the man was a bit faster than he had thought, but he needn’t have worried because Qrow’s initial downward slash did about as much as Ichigo had expected it to do.

The attack merely grinded on Ichigo’s chest for a moment before the man hopped backwards with a frown on his face. It was only there for a second when the familiar smirk made its way back to the man’s face.

“Someone’s got a big Aura. Makes me think you might be compensating for something.”

Well, Ichigo had never heard his reiatsu output described quite like _that_. The man really needed to get his mind out of the gutter. However, it that’s the way the man wanted to play, then Ichigo would just wait until he tired himself out.

Qrow’s smiled widened at the expression on Ichigo’s face and he once more took up his stance. Once more the man closed the distance between them, but Ichigo’s danger senses suddenly blared to life and he raised a blocking arm to swat away the blade, feeling a sting in his arm in the process.

The orange haired teen looked at the wound in surprise, but suddenly found that Qrow had used Ichigo’s block to swing around and try to land a back handed fist on the teen. With a startled yelp he jumped back and grabbed the hilt of his blade and drew for the first time since he had taken down Grimm within the forest they were fighting in.

He exchanged a few frantic blows with the raven haired man, and he could tell that his battle lust was beginning to show, although the same could be said for the person he was fighting as well.

Qrow was fast for one of the denizens of this dimension and while he was not as fast as someone like Yoruichi or Byakuya, the man was definitely a cut above all of the students. The frantic dance of deflecting his weapon was a good way to parse his skills, but Ichigo remembered that the man wanted him to prove himself. With that thought in mind, Ichigo decided to let loose a little.

His reiatsu spiked within the clearing and while the others looked surprised, Qrow merely seemed overjoyed that Ichigo was beginning to take him a least a little seriously.

“Well since you’re showing me yours, I guess I’ll show you mine.”

With a deft flick of his wrist Qrow’s sword began shifting until it took on the form of a scythe. Ichigo supposed he now knew where Ruby had learned her forms from. The man was now sporting a sharp looking scythe and had changed his stance to compensate for the new center of gravity.

The two merely stood across from one another for a beat, but then they disappeared in a flurry of motion and began exchanging blows, much to Ichigo’s surprise.

He was pretty certain he was moving about the same speed that he had when he had fought Renji, so that meant that Qrow was one of the people within this world that was far more competent, definitely one of the stronger people within this world.

He was just beginning to really enjoy their fight when Ichigo slipped on a stone that was jutting out slightly within the clearing. He was off balance and Qrow pounced as soon as he saw the opening. Unfortunately for Qrow, Ichigo was no stranger to being off balance during a fight. Adjusting his center of gravity he performed a rising kick that Qrow had to leap back from and the two of them separated with Ichigo spinning from his momentum before landing on his feet, sword raised in a defensive position.

While he was sure that he could definitely get the drop on the man if he started spamming shunpo, his warrior instincts just wouldn’t allow him to do so. However, before the two could resume their spar, they were interrupted by their referee.

“I think that’s enough you two!”

Ichigo blinked as a wall of earth sprouted between them.

“Oh come on! It was just getting exciting!”

While Ichigo agreed with the notion, he wasn’t going to go against what the professor was saying. With a disappointed sigh he sheathed his weapon and the wall crumbled away, revealing a grumbling Qrow.

“I’ll admit kid’s got moves. If your team works well together I’d say you’re a force to be reckoned with. I guess we can bring ya into the fold after all. But I’m gonna say that it was my win overall.”

Ichigo felt his eye twitch at that. Like hell he was going to give the win over to the older man.

“Maybe in your dreams old man.”

Qrow snorted at that and once more took a swig from his flask that Ichigo was sure hadn’t been there only a moment ago.

“Well if we’re gonna do this, let’s get the show on the road.”

The man said this as he began walking back towards the school. Ichigo merely looked at his friends and they just shrugged to show that they weren’t entirely sure what to make of the Huntsman either. With a sigh, he decided to just follow after the man.

 

Orihime was looking around as they once more crammed into the elevator that led up to Ozpin’s office. However, this time the Headmaster had done something and she had the distinct sense of falling down.

She had been cheering on Kurosaki-kun’s performance earlier and she was mildly impressed that the fully fledged Huntsman had been able to keep up with Kurosaki-kun even if he was going a bit easy on the raven haired man.

She knew that Kurosaki-kun had become much more powerful than anything that she could imagine and was shocked that even though the older man probably wasn’t as fast as the Shinigami, he made up for it in skill with his weapon. She was also curious as to why Kurosaki-kun had randomly slipped during the fight as she knew that the orange haired boy was usually much more sure footed than that.

After an indeterminable amount of time, Orihime felt the elevator gradually slowing down and eventually coming to a halt. She was sure that they were further down than any other student had been before and she was curious as to what the layout could look like.

With a small hiss, the doors opened and their group stepped out into a massive hallway. Orihime was admiring the sights of the gigantic pillars, as were the others, but a small clearing of the throat from the Headmaster had their attention directed towards the man.

“Now, I’m sure that you are unaware of the various fairy tales that exist throughout Remnant, therefore I’ll make this more succinct.”

The man then turned and began to walk down the hallway, clearly expecting them t follow after him, which they did as soon as they realized that was what he wanted.

“For centuries there has been a fairy tale that involved the Four Maidens of the Seasons. Winter, Spring, Summer, and…”

They turned a corner and Orihime held back a startled gasp as they came to a gigantic machine that had a person hooked up inside it, comatose.

“…Fall.”

Ozpin paused once more as if to gather his thoughts, but he plowed on with the explanation regardless.

“These four women throughout the world have been granted a gift, a gift which lets them utilize a great deal of power. However, there are some drawbacks.”

Orihime was only semi paying attention to the Headmaster’s explanation. She was far more interested in the state of the girl within the machine. The girl had darker skin and brown hair, she was also wrapped in bandages and it seemed that the only thing keeping her alive was the machine that she was residing in, oblivious to the world.

“Essentially the powers pass on to the last person that the girls are thinking of when they die. Unfortunately for us, when you are killed by someone…”

“…you’re thinking about whomever it was that murdered you.”

Ishida was the one to finish. Orihime nodded in agreement with that, but it looked as though the person in the machine hadn’t been entirely disposed of. With that thought in mind, Orihime gained a determined air about her.

She was positive that as long as the person was not dead, her Shun Shun Rikka would reject any ailment that someone was suffering from, be it disease or a mortal wound.

“This is why you needed me.”

Her soft voice cut off Ozpin’s declaration and the man gave a small defeated nod at her assertion.

The girl of team IUOY merely smile a she looked over towards the girl hanging by a thread in the machine. Orihime brushed her hand behind her ear and then decided that there was no use in waiting on anything.

“Soten Kisshun, I reject!”

Her hair clips flew out and covered the girl within an orange shield. For a moment there was nothing happening, but Orihime knew that she could do this. She _would_ do this!

In response to her unwavering will the glow became more pronounced, filling the chamber with light.

Finally, after moments of waiting, a pair of brown eyes snapped open, the edges filled with an orange fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone.
> 
> I hope that you are so far enjoying this story on this site, thew next chapter is already up on ff.net, but I should be caught up soon. I've enjoyed the kudos, comments, and hits so far and am hoping that I've been living up to them. If you're feeling kind please leave a comment or kudos and I'll have the next chapter up soon!
> 
> Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum! While Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo! Please support the official release!


	4. Nothing is Real

Amber had had the distinct feeling as though she had been floating in a void for quite a while. The last thing she truly remembered was that bitch getting the drop on her and some sort of Grimm coming out of nowhere to do who knows what kind of damage. All she had been left with was a burning sensation and then came the floating, at least that what _was_ her existence.

One second she had been floating and the next she was suddenly awake and trapped within an unknown machine. Terrified that she had been captured for some sort of nefarious purpose she had unleashed her power and completely decimated the machine that she was in, blowing the door straight off its hinges as she unleashed her power.

She caught a glimpse of an orange haired girl looking at her in surprise behind some sort of glowing orange shield, but that was replaced by pain as she felt as though a cement truck had crashed into her side and she was sent spiraling into a dark corridor that she had never seen before, surrounded by pillars.

With a flourish she flipped back onto her feet and slid into a defensive stance. She caught sight of a boy clad in black who was standing roughly where she had been when she had awoken.

With a scream of exertion she felt her power thrum as fire began to fill the dark hall they were in, casting ominous shadows through the place.

However, it looked as though her display was doing nothing to phase the teen that was gazing coolly at her as he hefted a giant cleaver type sword from his back to point at her challengingly. With another scream of challenge, Amber rocketed towards the teen and began trying her level best to pummel the idiot who thought they could take her head on. To her amazement, the orange haired youth reciprocated and was able to deflect her blows.

It even looked as though he was aiming to subdue her more than anything as he merely redirected all of her attacks, making sure that she was not able to get to the other people that she was beginning to notice behind him.

However, before they could really start to fight, a familiar voice rang throughout the dark corridor that she was in.

“Enough!”

Amber felt herself instantly stop at the voice due to hours of listening to it, her flames going out as the orange haired youth let out a small sigh of relief, letting out a mumble under his breath that she only barely managed to hear.

“Well, that woulda sucked if I had to kill you right after we saved you.”

Fortunately for him, Amber wasn’t paying any sort of attention to the teen as she had slid her eyes past him and taken in the sight of the Headmaster of Beacon, who although looked a bit concerned, she was able to see looked immensely happy to see her.

“Ozpin?”

She didn’t even recognize her own voice and realized that it had become a bit raspy with disuse. She was feeling even more confused as some memories that she was sure were not her own suddenly hit her, as though she had lived a life never lived. With a groan she placed her hands to her head as she felt the last remnants of her Maiden power fade back into herself.

“Easy there, Firestarter.”

Amber finally felt as though what she was experiencing was at the very least somewhat real. Only Qrow could be this annoying when she was sure the last she had seen of him was a worried face before she slipped into darkness. Or was it run away from an encounter with him? Whatever the case she was thankful for the friendly arm helping keep her up as she suddenly felt as though she had gone eight rounds with a Goliath.

“I must say, Ms. Inoue, I am not one to be rendered speechless by many things, but I think I can safely say that this is one of those things. You’re healing must be unparalleled for you to be able to pull off what you did.”

Amber glanced over to the young woman she had seen when she had first awoken and winced as the girl seemed to be showing nothing but concern for the person that had almost immolated her.

“Are you feeling okay? I’ve never healed anything as complicated as what happened to you before. Is there any sort of strange memory blanks? Are you still feeling fatigued?”

Amber shook her head tiredly as she leaned into Qrow’s support. Now that she wasn’t going nuts and trying to kill everything in her path she realized that there were a fair amount of people within the giant hall.

In addition to the orange haired boy and girl as well as Qrow and Ozpin, she noticed that there were two other teens and Glynda.

“What happened to the Maidens being a secret?”

Glynda gave her an un-amused stare for her comment, but she caught the flicker of a grin in the Headmaster’s expression while she felt a small rumble as Qrow chuckled a bit lowly at her.

“Well, here’s the thing. Our Fall Maiden went and got herself hurt, so we had to bring in some extra help to heal her up.”

Amber supposed she should have expected nothing less from the red eyed deviant who had been her protector ever since she became the Fall Maiden, but she had learned that the best way to deal with Qrow’s snark was with snark of your own.

“Now why ever would she do that?”

It looked like her comment caught because Qrow gave a small wince at her playful tone. She sighed at the thought of the idiot blaming himself. Just great.

However, before she and Qrow could really get going, they were interrupted by the orange haired boy that she had been fighting just a few moments ago.

“This is a nice reunion and all, but can we take our conversation somewhere else? Preferably not in a dark ass hall where Orihime can make sure that whatever the hell happened to you didn’t leave any tangible lasting scars.”

Amber looked at the utterly destroyed machine that she had burst out of (that was probably expensive) before looking back toward the orange haired kid.

“That sounds like the best plan that I’ve heard since I woke up.”

* * *

Chad watched on as the rest of their party walked into the Headmaster of Beacon’s office. With a glance upwards he was able to see the clocks that were slowly turning within the tower. Even after all of the strange sights that he had seen ever since he had awakened his own battle prowess, he couldn’t help but be impressed at the gigantic gears turning away above them.

He had had utmost faith that Orihime would be able to fix the woman that had been held in stasis, but he hadn’t thought that they would have to deal with her going on a rampage as soon as she awakened. He had been able to call forth his power in time to shield everyone from the initial outburst (letting out a sigh of relief that Orihime was able to cast a shield in time) as Ichigo moved to intercept the strange woman.

Witnessing her strength and abilities had brought back some of his own battles and while she was definitely not as strong as the pink kimono wearing Captain that he had encountered, she did feel stronger than most of the other Shinigami he had seen.

While Chad was usually quite stoic in his demeanor that didn’t mean that he didn’t observe the world around him. He realized that the woman within the machine was obviously someone that was of the utmost importance as soon as they came upon her and he had been ready to defend the people around him from any of her lashing out when she had awoken. He knew that if he had woken up in a strange chamber when the last thing he had remembered was someone attempting to murder him he was sure that he would lash out.

Chad sent a quick glance over to Ishida who was watching the proceedings taking place within the Headmaster’s office with a sort of forced calm that Chad had come to expect from the Quincy. He was sure that if the light glinting off the black haired boy’s glasses was anything to go by that he was deep in thought with the revelation of power from the woman.

Finally once they were all settled around Ozpin’s desk (though they were a little cramped with so many people, especially Chad and Ichigo who were by no definition small) the Headmaster deigned to finally address the rest of them.

“I am not in the habit of being completely astounded with all my years as Headmaster of this prestigious Academy, but when I am it is always good when it is for something pleasant.”

Ozpin took a small sip from his mug (something Chad suspected he often did just to have control of the flow of conversation).

“With that in mind I want to thank team IOUY from the bottom of my heart. I had feared for the worst for our erstwhile Fall Maiden and the fact that she is returned to us safe and sound more than solidifies my decision to let you within this academy despite your… unique…. circumstances. I would especially like to extend my gratitude to you Ms. Inoue. In all my years I have never seen a better healer.”

Now that Orihime wasn’t a ball of concern for her patient she let out a small blush at the praise that the Headmaster was heaping on her and rubbed the back of her head somewhat embarrassingly.

“Anyone would do what I did if they had the chance, Ozpin-sensei.”

Ozpin merely smiled at that for a moment before folding his hands on top of the desk and looking at them with a much more serious expression.

“I judge I don’t have to tell you four that what we have done here was done with the utmost secrecy. I trust your judgment in telling your fellow classmates exactly why you have been pulled from lessons for the day.”

Chad was glad to see that Ichigo gave a small scoff at the Headmaster’s words.

“Considering who my teachers were I think I can keep a secret.”

Ishida let out a sigh at what their orange haired leader had said.

“Hopefully better than you did for keeping a few other secrets.”

Ichigo rolled his eyes at the subtle dig that the glasses wearing Quincy had made in relation to how the two teens had really met and interacted with each other for the first time. Hopefully they wouldn’t be fighting some sort of Grimm horde any time soon.

“We’ll be discrete.”

Everyone looked at him as he said those words. He knew the value of staying quiet until the opportune moment, it made what he said have that much more weight.

“I suppose that is the best I can ask for.”

Before the Headmaster could continue, Qrow decided to butt in.

“Well, I’d say that you kids can probably keep a secret, what with being inter-dimensional beings and all.”

Chad had the privilege of watching everyone nod in agreement to that, before the dark skinned woman froze as if realizing what the scythe wielder had just said.

“What what-”

However, she was cut off by the blonde haired teacher that had been mostly silent this entire time.

“This has taken less time than even I had thought possible, therefore we will still be having our regular Combat Class. I suggest you all get ready for that.”

It seemed that they were finally being dismissed from the Headmaster’s office. Chad supposed they would leave them to explain their origins to the person they had saved (who was looking a little baffled as the just talked around her). With an accepting nod, Ichigo paused as Yoruichi jumped onto Chad’s team leader’s shoulders and they began to make their way towards the elevator.

“Wait!”

The four teens (and one cat) paused as the woman walked over to them while they were waiting for the elevator.

Chad was somewhat surprised when she gave a small bow toward their group.

“Although I don’t entirely understand everything that’s happened, I am grateful to all of you for helping me. If you ever need anything, anything at all, don’t hesitate to ask.”

It was Orihime who deigned to answer the woman’s thanks.

“As I told Ozpin-sensei, I was happy to help. It’s something that I can say with certainty that I’m the best at right now, Fall-san.”

The woman grinned at the bubbly girl’s response.

“Even so, it’s always good to thank people. Also, my name’s Amber, pleasure to meet you all.”

This brought on a round of their own introductions and by the time they were done the elevator had arrived, signaling an end to their conversation.

“Well, don’t let me keep you from your classes. And again, thank you.”

Her piece said, the Fall Maiden walked back towards where the other adults were waiting for her. Chad supposed that they would be discussing quite a few things once they were gone. Hopefully there was a plan in place now that they had one of their stronger pieces back on the bored. Of course if Ichigo decided to really let loose then he was going to smash the board, but he supposed that the people playing in the shadows would find that out soon enough.

* * *

Ozpin looked on as his inter-dimensional students (a phrase he was fairly certain that he had never used before) took the elevator down. He had been more hopeful than most when Yoruichi had told him that Ms. Inoue was capable of healing Amber’s ailment, but he had always had a more cynical view of the world despite what he outwardly told his students and staff.

There were always some sort of complications or prices for utilizing such powers, but it looked as though in this case he had been happily proven wrong.

“Gotta admit, I know you surround yourself with strange ass people Oz, but hiring a buncha inter-dimensional teens probably takes the cake. I didn’t think anything could top the Maidens. This is why I drink.”

Ozpin rolled his eyes at his vagabond agent as the man punctuated his declaration with tipping back his flask and taking a swig.

“I think I might have to start.”

Ozpin winced at that. He knew that the stress the Fall Maiden was under had to be incredibly significant, but he had hoped that at least some of the ordeal could be mitigated through Ms. Inoue’s healing prowess.

Alas, it seemed he would have to have some uncomfortable conversations a bit sooner rather than later.

“It’s wonderful to see you up and about once more, Amber. Please have a seat.”

He gestured to a chair which the Maiden gratefully took. Ozpin took a moment to gather his thoughts before he decided to continue.

“We know for a fact that you were specifically targeted. This was no random encounter and they were definitely after your powers. We believe that the Grimm that attached itself to you was meant to essentially siphon off your entire soul, and thus your powers. However, due to Qrow’s efforts we were able to throw a wrench in their plans.”

Amber looked worried at this and Ozpin noticed the young woman wince and rub her temples as she processed this information. It was here that Qrow decided to chime in.

“While we’re still not sure who or where the enemy are, we were able to figure out that their plans have definitely halted due to the fact that you were still alive and no major attack has happened while you were outta commission. Even though it feels weird that there’s been no movement, I guess you could say that no news is good news.”

Amber sighed at that and her kneading of her temples slightly increased.

“For all that those kids seem to be good kids, I can’t say that I trust them completely. I’ve been having weird flashes of things, things that I’m fairly sure happened while I was knocked out. I think I might be catching glimpses of what our enemy has been up to.”

Ozpin felt a small thrill of alarm shoot through him at the Maiden’s admittance. If she was having some backlash to being healed, what might be happening to the person who had stolen the powers in the first place? Were the two now somehow connected? Could one influence the other?

All of these questions were enough to make Ozpin tighten his grip on his mug for a second, but with a quick sigh he decided to let go of his worry, at least for now.

“We may have to look into that later. In the meantime if you are feeling as though something is too overwhelming or as though something is not quite right, I’d advise you to seek out Ms. Inoue. She was the one who healed you after all. I’m sure she’d be able to soothe any of your woes.”

Amber let out a small huff of amusement at that and Ozpin took it as a good sign that he didn’t notice any mannerisms or tells that might give away that someone else was controlling the Maiden.

“I feel like that goes without saying, Oz.”

Ozpin gave a small nod of assent at that. He supposed it was just difficult to let former students spread their wings and be their own people. He enjoyed being a Professor too much and helping guide people had been a rock that had guided him through some of his darkest hours.

“If that’s all then I think I should be taking my leave. I still have a Combat Class to run and with the first years having their ‘No Challenges’ rule lifted it’s sure to be a busy class.”

Ozpin spread his arms out appreciatively at that. He might have to keep an eye on the monitors to see what went on in that particular class today, especially with the slew first years raring to challenge Mr. Kurosaki. He was positive it would be quite the entertaining class.

With that out of the way his Deputy made her own way to the elevator leaving only the three of them in the room.

“Our next move will be to inform the others of Amber’s recovery, though I will be a bit… vague…on how I explain it. You are more than welcome to use Beacon as a base of operations for a time to recover from your ordeal and see if there are any side effects due to it.”

Amber seemed to consider his proposal for a moment before giving him a small nod of agreement.

“I think it might do me some good to be in civilization again. Especially since removing myself from the equation didn’t work. It’ll be nice to have some Hunters and Huntresses watching my back while I get back on my feet. Will you be staying, Qrow?”

The red eyed man gazed coolly at his charge for a moment before glancing at Ozpin who gave a slight nod.

“Looks like, at least until your recovered and ready to take on the world again. It’ll be nice to mess with my nieces while I’m here.”

Ozpin watched as the dark skinned woman’s eyes lit up at the notion of meeting Qrow’s family and she gave a wave of goodbye before making her own way to the elevator. Once she was gone he and Qrow sat in a comfortable silence, which the drunk couldn’t help but fill after a few minutes.

“It’s all well and good that those kids helped us Oz, but the other reason I’m staying is to help out if they go off the deep end somehow isn’t it? Or be persuaded by the enemy?”

Ozpin gave a small shrug to the man’s query. While he was not entirely inaccurate in his assessment of the situation, he wasn’t entirely accurate either.

“I don’t foresee any sort of negativity coming from team IUOY. What concerns me, and what should concern you, is that if those teens are so strong, what _exactly_ made them become so.”

Qrow blinked at the Headmaster’s question and let out a smirk towards the man.

“Well, let’s hope we don’t have to find out.”

* * *

Pyrrha Nikos was someone who took great pride in her abilities in combat. Ever since she was a young girl she had been molded to be one of the greatest warriors of her generation. It had even earned her the moniker “Invincible Girl.” Unfortunately, every time she heard that nickname she found that she wanted to scream.

True, she had been coasting for the last two of her Mistral Tournaments, but her first one had been an exhilarating rush that she had barely won and the second one had still been a challenge. However, by the time she got to the fourth tournament, the fire had gone out in her competitors and she was able to completely coast through to clench the victory.

She had been terrified of being put on a pedestal when she had arrived at Beacon and it seemed that her worst fears might have come true when she had met the Schnee heir, but thankfully she had met Jaune soon after.

While her partner might not be the best with his combat skills, he had a knack for coming up with a plan and had a good heart. Best of all, it seemed as if he was completely unaware of her fame and wanted to be her friend solely on what he had seen of her since he had met her.

Her interactions with the rest of her team had shown her that while the NR of JNPR knew of her accomplishments and battle prowess, they just didn’t care about those kinds of things.

Thus for the first time in a long time, Pyrrha felt as though she might have found a group of friends. Even more than that, she thought she might have finally found people her age that matched her (and possibly surpassed her in a few cases) in fighting ability.

She had thought that some of the girls on team RWBY would be good challenges, but once she had seen the aftermath of a dying Goliath, she knew that all of team IUOY were people to watch. As soon as she had made this decision, Ichigo had declared that _no one_ would be able to make him draw his weapon at their breakfast table the first day of classes.

At first she had felt a bit infuriated, but then a thrill of challenge had gone up her spine, one she hadn’t felt since the first time she had entered a tournament. It took all of one Combat Class to show both team JNPR and team RWBY that the leader of team IUOY was not one for idle boasts.

While she had heard of some _extremely_ skilled Huntresses and Hunters blasting through someone’s Aura, she had never seen it in person before and she was almost positive that they had to use a weapon to do so.

Ichigo on the other hand had used his bare hands and had blasted through Cardin’s sturdy armor to boot. Ever since then people were wary of fighting the ever scowling leader of team IUOY. In every other Combat Class he had proven himself so far above everyone else’s level that they all ended in the same way.

However, she knew for a fact that the rest of the team weren’t any slouches either. She had fought both white clad Ishida and gigantic Chad. Both of which were tough fights on her part all while she had the distinct feeling that they were both holding back, particularly Chad.

She had only won through utilizing her Semblance and causing a ring out for both of those participants, something that she wasn’t entirely sure she could use against Ichigo, despite his gigantic weapon that must have been made of metal. The strange thing was… Pyrrha was fairly certain that the weapon _wasn’t_ made of a material her polarity could abuse, giving her a distinct disadvantage.

When all of team IUOY was called away to the Headmaster early on in the day, Pyrrha was somewhat put out by the fact that she might not be able to finally fight the person she had been looking forward to challenging the most. All throughout their History lesson, Pyrrha was only half paying attention to Professor Oobleck while the other half was on the empty seats that team IUOY usually occupied. She hoped that they were returned by the time Combat Class began in the afternoon.

She felt herself let out a small sigh of relief when she and the rest of team RWBY and JNPR entered into the arena like classroom and saw IUOY lounging in their usual seats as was their wont in this class. It looked as though she would be getting her challenge after all. She was also determined to be the first person to get to the orange haired leader. The two teams made their way towards their usual seats which were across from IOUY.

“Sweet, looks like the orange brain was able to make it, gonna pound him into the dirt.”

Pyrrha shot a sidelong glare at the golden haired bomber of team RWBY, one that the girl seemed to feel as she gave a feral grin towards the Mistral champion.

“Hey, you’re not the only one who’s got beef with the guy. He gave us all the lay of the land if you’ll remember. I intend to collect.”

“Get in line.”

Pyrrha blinked at that aggressive tone and realized that the rest of her team and team RWBY were now staring at her. She then realized that it was her that had spoken to Yang’s taunting. While she blushed in slight embarrassment, the golden haired brawler’s grin returned full force after a moment.

“Damn girl, if the ‘Invincible Girl’ is this hyped to fight someone, then I guess I’ll let you have the first go. I don’t really like sloppy seconds, but meh.”

Pyrrha felt her blush deepen and was treated to the sight of the leader of team RWBY turning a matching red as her cloak from her sister’s comment.

“Yang!”

They were all brought back to their positions by the black haired girl from their team rolling her eyes and giving Yang a small smack on the head, causing the blonde haired girl to rub the spot and pout in defiance to her partner.

“It’s for your own good. Stop trying to pick fights with someone like Pyrrha.”

Yang snorted at that as she shot her eyes over towards the leader of team IUOY.

“I think I’m gonna be picking a fight with someone else before the day is over.”

However, before Yang could go on, Goodwitch finally arrived, her distinct heels echoing and announcing her presence as usual.

“Welcome back, students.”

The stern woman walked into the center of the arena and swept her gaze around the gathered students.

“I realize that this has been something that a great many of you have been looking forward to for a long time. Today we will be letting our “No Challenge” policy be voided and you may chose who you fight. I will still be giving classes where the fights will be random and on occasion you may be outnumbered if I deem it a prudent exercise. I must also reiterate that if you do not feel as though you want to fight a challenger, there is no reason for you to not accept a challenge. I believe that is all.”

Once that was said, the stern Professor paused to once more give them a look of warning. With a small sigh, the woman smacked her riding crop into her hand letting it echo throughout the now silent chamber.

“That said, I must now ask, are there any who would like to put forth a challenge?”

The words had barely left the Professor’s mouth before Pyrrha had spoken up, not even noticing that the hall had been looking at her expectantly.

“I challenge Kurosaki Ichigo.”

With that declaration, the gathered student’s attention swiveled over to the orange haired leader of team IUOY who looked as though his scowl had once more deepened. With a sigh, the boy ran his hand through his already unruly hair.

“Well, I’m not gonna say no.”

Pyrrha beamed at the boy’s response and slowly rose from her seat as Goodwitch nodded her assent.

“Very well. The two of you go change for combat and then meet back here to begin our matches. In fact, if there are any others who plan to fight today, please go and change now, we will reconvene in ten minutes to start the first match of Pyrrha Nikos versus Kurosaki Ichigo.”

* * *

Ichigo sighed as he once more took up a position within the center of the arena. While he was happy that they had finally gotten that thing with the person under the school out of the way for now, he was more than a little irked that he was once more thrust into a position of fighting for other people’s enjoyment.

He supposed that he was beginning to love the thrill of the battle, but fighting with Qrow had shown him just how far the other students had to go when compared to him. Hopefully this next fight would at least make him draw his blade in class.

He had been hearing nothing but good things about the abilities of the red haired member of team JNPR and while he was sure she was no Qrow she was probably pretty damn strong in comparison to her peers in this universe. Maybe something like a supped up Tatsuki with the amount of tournaments she had won?

It had taken him no time at all to change and come back to the arena, so he was one of the first back, but it looked as though there were going to be quite a few fights in this class if the amount of students trickling back in and sporting their combat attire was anything to go by. It seemed as if Goodwitch’s lift had made them believe that they needed to throw down the gauntlet with Ichigo to get any kind of respect. Honestly it made him feel a little like he was once more near the 11th Division barracks again.

His musings were brought to an end as he saw the golden armored Pyrrha walk back into the classroom and slowly make her way towards the center of the arena. Another moment more and she took her place directly across from him, her green eyes sizing him up.

“I see you haven’t drawn your sword yet.”

Ichigo gave a shrug, but decided to give Pyrrha a bit of an insight into what she was dealing with.

“Well, if you noticed earlier, we got taken out by a full-fledged Hunter earlier.”

Pyrrha gave a small nod of acknowledgement at that fact, she had obviously been at the table when he and his team had been escorted out. Ichigo’s excuse for that was a beautiful half truth that Yoruichi had suggested as a way for them to explain away their absence from their morning classes.

“Well, Ozpin had heard about my proclivity for not using a weapon and he wanted to make sure that I had what it takes when people were coming to challenge me. With that in mind he sent for a full fledged Hunter to test me and I suppose just using hand to hand against that man wasn’t able to cut it.”

Pyrrha’s eyes widened at the implications of what Ichigo was stating, but if that was because of the fact that he had drawn his blade or due to the fact that the only person so far to do so was a fully realized Hunter, Ichigo wasn’t sure.

“It’s a strange feeling.”

Ichigo let his eyes slide over to his current sparring partner at those words and he felt one of his eyebrows rise at seeing her practically vibrating. She caught his look and let out a small smile, one which Ichigo blinked away as he suddenly had a super imposed Zaraki over the red haired warrior.

“I haven’t been this excited for a fight in a long time, please take good care of me.”

Ichigo blinked in slight bewilderment as Pyrrha gave a short bow once she had finished, but he didn’t hesitate to return it.

“It’ll be my pleasure. Make sure to give it your all.”

Pyrrha’s grin turned into a full blown smile at that as she slid into her stance, her shield shifting onto her arm and spear held at the ready.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be the first one of the students to make you draw your sword and give you your first defeat.”

Ichigo felt his own cocky grin slip into place as the words of challenge resonated within him. He felt an almost primal urge to battle it out with the warrior in front of him, but true to form he merely crossed his arms in defiance. He would stick to his plan and as much as he wanted to cross blades with Pyrrha, she would need to earn that right just like everyone else he had fought so far.

“Are the two of you quite done?”

Pyrrha looked a bit surprised at Goodwitch’s words, but that was immediately replaced with a polite sheepishness. Apparently she had actually forgotten that the blonde haired Professor was there in her excitement.

“Of course. Sorry Professor.”

Goodwitch merely let out a small shake of her head before raising her hand as she had done countless times before. Ichigo noticed that Pyrrha tensed in her stance as soon as the hand was raised. It seemed as though the red head was going to start this fight off with some rush attacks to try and blow past his defense.

“Begin!”

The word was punctuated by Goodwitch thrusting her hand down to start the match.

As soon as the Professor’s hand was moving Pyrrha had already sprung forward and began the round with a shout of challenge as she thrust her spear towards Ichigo, who merely raised an eyebrow and allowed the hit to connect.

He watched on as the hit jarred the red haired warrior, making her bounce back a bit. However, she followed the attack with a spinning attack utilizing her shield to smash into Ichigo’s head. While the hit connected and he was actually surprised that he somewhat felt it, he still didn’t feel as though he needed to draw his own weapon.

With a somewhat disappointed sigh, Ichigo made to knock his opponent out in one hit once more, but before his hit connected his eyes widened in surprise as Pyrrha nimbly dodged out of the way of his oncoming fist, before using a spinning kick to send Ichigo sliding across the floor. While the attack didn’t do any damage, the momentum was enough to get Ichigo to move.

However, he stopped right as he came to the edge of the ring, only to let out a startled yelp as Pyrrha’s shield came flying at his head. He ducked to dodge the projectile but realized his mistake as he saw the golden clad foot of the red haired warrior heading straight for his jaw.

The hit connected and the red haired warrior flipped out of his range as her shield flew back into her hand. Ichigo countered this unfortunate turn of events by twisting his body in what he was sure was an unnatural position and smashing his hand onto the arena’s floor before flipping himself over Pyrrha’s head and landing on the other side so that they had reversed where their starting positions had been.

He paused as he noticed that the red head was gazing at him warily, her shield up ready for an attack. Ichigo rubbed at his jaw, he thought it might actually feel a bit stiff. Color him impressed. This was the first bit of damage that he had actually taken the entire time he had been at this school. Not even the crazy fire lady had gotten in that clean a hit. A glance to his scroll showed that it had indeed dipped a small amount.

However, it looked as though his opponent was going to spring into action once more, but he made a snap decision. If she was capable of hitting him, even a little bit, then she deserved to really fight him. With that in mind he raised his hand up in a stopping motion and the red head naturally paused before she made to attack.

However, her confusion turned to shock when his hand snaked over his back and he grasped the handle of Zangetsu.

“Let’s talk. Warrior to warrior.”

So saying he let a bit of his reiatsu flow out so that the cloth around his zanpakuto swirled out and his eyes took on a small blue hue. He let go of the flow as soon as Zangetsu was fully drawn, but cut down so that a small gust pushed out of his person. With a shrug of his shoulders he brought his blade to bear, standing in a traditional kendo stance and ready for his opponent.

“Now then, tell me what you have to say.”

* * *

Within the audience, Ruby was watching on as what were probably two of the best fighters in their age group tangled with each other. She had been ecstatic when Pyrrha had been the first person to challenge Ichigo, and while she herself wanted to have a go at the orange haired leader of team IUOY, she was sure that Pyrrha was most likely a better candidate in the long run.

The two did not disappoint.

Pyrrha had opened with a flurry of moves that had Ichigo on the defensive and then the boy had paused the fight. While the rest of the audience was confused, Ruby had a feeling she knew what was going to happen. Once Ichigo finally drew his weapon, Ruby immediately felt the intimidating sense of power that the orange haired teen let off as he finally drew his weapon within the Combat Class.

“Holy shit, she actually did it!”

Ruby frowned at her sister’s language, but she supposed she could let it slide. It was very interesting to see Ichigo finally slide into a stance with his weapon after all. However, that didn’t stop her own partner from chiming in towards her sister’s comment.

“Of course, she’s called “The Invincible Girl” for a reason you know. I had no doubts that she was going to be able to force that boy to draw his blade.”

While the white themed girl had a point, it was her polar opposite who decided to respond to her.

“That might be true, but if I recall correctly, the last time we saw him draw his weapon he bisected a Goliath.”

That made Weiss wince and Ruby felt a little torn on who to cheer for. She liked both these people and they had both been kind to her ever since she came to Beacon.

“Pft, I just wanna see a good fight in any case. Go Ichigo, Go Pyrrha!”

Well, she supposed that that was one way to cheer. She felt as though she could get behind that. However, before she let out her own cheer, Nora beat her to it.

“C’mon Pyrrha, break his legs!”

Ruby joined the rest of her team and Jaune in looking at the orange haired girl in shock while Ren merely had his face firmly planted in his palm at his partner’s antics.

“Nora, we’ve been over this, we only want that to happen to our enemies. Whom Ichigo is not a part of.”

Nora took her partner’s chastisement in stride.

“Oh that’s right! Thanks Ren!”

So saying she cupped her hands to her mouth and once more cheered for her teammate.

“Only break his legs a little!”

At that most of the other gathered team leaned away from the crazy berserker, while her partner’s other hand moved to join the previously mentioned one.

“Close enough.”

Ruby was getting ready to cheer once more, it looked as though Pyrrha was now incredibly wary and Ichigo hadn’t yet moved from his stance. Perhaps he wanted the red haired warrior to make the first move. However, before she could a new voice butted into their conversation.

“I’m actually a bit surprised that Kurosaki actually drew his sword. I suppose that in actually making him lose a bit of Aura he deemed her worthy of facing Zangetsu.”

Ruby noticed that her black haired teammate stiffened as the rest of team IUOY settled down near them. It looked as though she had a particularly bad reaction to the glasses wearing one, who also happened to have the cat that she had seen the first day settled on his shoulder, tail lazily swishing through the air from side to side.

She put that into the back of her mind as she briefly turned her attention to the speaker.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Ishida took a moment to contemplate her question before he responded.

“Kurosaki hasn’t drawn his weapon on any student yet because they lacked the resolve to actually fight him. As such I don’t think he is going to move until Pyrrha attacks first. He wants to really test her in his crazy way of communicating through fighting.”

Ruby wasn’t entirely sure she got all that, but she supposed that it meant that Pyrrha was a bad ass, which she already knew.

“Man, I wanted to be the one to make him draw it first.”

Ruby silently agreed with her sister, but it seemed that the bubbly Orihime wasn’t one to let something of an oversight go.

“Oh, the first person to actually get him to draw his weapon here was Qrow-san.”

Ruby’s eyes snapped to the girl at that admittance (out of the corner of her eye she saw Yang do the same). While the others didn’t understand the significance of that statement, she and her sister did. Their uncle was crazy strong.

“So that’s where you guys went to this morning.”

She hear that mumbled from her sister, but she just shrugged it off. It looked like the fight was about to continue!

* * *

Pyrrha felt her senses go into overdrive as soon as Ichigo drew his blade. It felt as though she were staring down some sort of titanic entity rather than a rather tall teenager.

She had been trying for this and it only felt fair that she had let him draw the weapon when he had paused their fight. However, as soon as he had settled into his loose stance, she wasn’t sure if she had made a small miscalculation or not in letting him draw the blade.

While it was true that their fight had been somewhat going in her favor so far, she wasn’t entirely sure how she should now approach the team leader. She knew that this presence was one of the reasons that the orange haired boy had been elected leader of his team and she was sure that there was no one else within their age group who could actually fight this behemoth (with the exception of his team, they were holding back after all when she fought them).

“Are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to show me that you were worthy of my own resolve.”

His words jolted her out of the defensive mindset that she hadn’t even realized that she had begun adopting in the face of his sheer _presence_. With a small scowl, she adjusted Milo so that it shifted into rifle form and let loose three consecutive shots, all of which were easily batted aside. However, she followed that attack with once more throwing Akouo and following after it.

Ichigo once more easily dodged, but this time he blocked her follow up strike and with a grin let fly one of his own slashes. Pyrrha twisted uncomfortably in the air to sail over the blade, but her eyes widened as she realized that the orange haired boy had stopped the slash on a dime and thrust up with the blunt end of his blade.

She was barely able to get Milo up in time and she let out a small cry of surprise as she still felt the hit jar her entire arm before she was sent flying upwards from the blow. With a small flourish of her body she was able to twist and came down to land a few feet away from Ichigo, praying that he didn’t notice the shield flying towards the back of his head. However, it looked as if no one heard her prayers and she let forth a small scowl as the teen batted away her shield without even looking behind him.

She knew that he was a powerhouse, but to simply neutralize her shield without even looking was more annoying than she had though it might be. With a small sigh she called Akouo back to her and slid into a more neutral stance, neither aggressive nor defensive.

“Not bad, Pyrrha. Not bad at all.”

She gave a small smile at his appreciation, but her competitive spirit once more returned as she took in the fact that he once more had slid into the stance he had started with.

“I think it’s about time to see if you can defend.”

Pyrrha bare registered what Ichigo had said, when suddenly a wall of muscle was in front of her. With a small yelp she raised her shield instinctively and felt the hit reverberate throughout her entire body. The next few moments were something that Pyrrha was sure she wouldn’t be able to recall any time soon. She just gave herself over to her instincts and turned into a blur of blocking, countering, and attacking.

Ichigo was relentless in his attack and it was all she could do just to keep from having her head knocked off by his gigantic sword (she was pretty sure he _threw_ the damn thing at one point, it was also here that she learned for a fact that whatever his sword was made of it wasn’t metal as she had tried to keep it where it landed). Eventually all she became aware of was the blood rushing through her ears as the sound of the crowded arena completely disappeared from her senses. There was only the opponent in front of her, someone who, she was ashamed to realize, she could not defeat.

It looked like she was going to get her first loss in years. Rather than be despondent about the impending loss, Pyrrha called upon a well of strength she hadn’t even realized that she had. If she was going to suffer a loss she was going to make sure that the orange haired team leader worked for every inch he took.

However, for all that she was one of the strongest people in her generation, the fact was, she utilized bursts of effort. While she had a good foundation in all her areas of combat, she just wasn’t a stamina monster. Eventually she made a mistake.

She felt her eyes widen as she felt her arm give out from exhaustion, but she only had a second to despair as she felt what felt like a semi truck smash into her chest and then she was flying out of the arena and imprinting onto the concrete wall that was circling the place.

She let out a small groan as her weapons dropped to the ground and she followed after them. She was able to stay on her feet for a second more before the tantalizing darkness rose up to greet her.

* * *

Ozpin wasn’t easily impressed and he knew that the other person watching the cameras wasn’t either. Qrow had scoffed when Mr. Kurosaki had first refused to draw his weapon against Ms. Nikos, but he was much more intrigued as the fight went on. While Qrow had fought him briefly to see that Ichigo had the power to back up his boasts, it was always better to really gauge a student when you were on the outside looking in.

“Gotta say, Oz, that kid is nuts.”

Ozpin let out a small hum of agreement to his red eyed friend.

“I think that the team as a whole is even better when they work together. You weren’t here to see them take on the Goliath.”

Qrow shook his head as he took another swig from his flask.

“I guess that whatever they were fighting in their home dimension was tougher than anything we’ve seen. After all, the kid was able to hold off Amber pretty easily, even if she was half out of her mind when he did so.”

Ozpin folded his hands in his lap as he watched the rest of team JNPR swarm over to their fallen team member and team IUOY and RWBY go over to congratulate Mr. Kurosaki. He was sure that the red headed teen would need to get medical attention and while he always wanted his students to be as safe as possible, he felt as though it was a good thing that Pyrrha had learned her limits within a sparring match rather than in an actual battle.

Ozpin had noticed that the longer the match went on, the more exhausted Ms. Nikos became. As fatigue settled in, her Aura became that much dimmer, so that the final blow from Mr. Kurosaki almost completely blew through it, though the teen had a certain penchant for doing that. He was somewhat impressed that Ms. Nikos had even been able to stay conscious after the devastating blow.

Whatever else he could say about the current generation, he was sure that they were particularly talented, especially when he factored in the inter-dimensional IUOY. However, he was also just as sure that somewhere out there, the Queen was making her own move to put him in check.

It had been this that had really made him call Qrow back in from his information gathering mission. He needed the man in a capacity as a teacher, perhaps someone who would be able to teach the older students some of the more esoteric skills that that they would need as a Huntsman.

“I take it that I don’t need to tell you to keep an eye on Amber. While she should be perfectly safe within Beacon’s halls, it’s always possible for something to slip through the cracks.”

Qrow gave a small wave as another screen switched over to the Fall Maiden. She was currently within the infirmary and he was sure that team JNPR would most likely be running into her fairly soon. He found it somewhat amusing that who he was sure would have been the future Fall Maiden would be meeting the current one. Something he never could have predicted even just a few weeks ago. It seemed that his ability to roll with the punches had served him well once again.

“While I have you here Oz, I need to tell you that there have been some concerning murmurings coming from the criminal underbelly of Vale. Torchwick has been getting a little too uppity lately and the fact that he was able to give even Glynda the slip is more concerning than I think either of us wanna admit.”

Ozpin sighed as his friend pulled him out of his contemplative mood. He supposed that this business was something that they both wanted to complete as soon as they could. He had a feeling he knew exactly where Qrow would be going once the sun went down.

“Be careful Qrow. We haven’t heard from the Queen in awhile and I don’t want us to be caught unawares by any sort of other pieces that she has hidden on the board.”

Qrow let out a small snort at that as he recapped his flask and put it back on his hip.

“Hey you know me Oz, I’m the paragon of keeping my cards close to my chest. But if it makes you feel better then I’ll promise that I’ll be careful while I deal with criminals who won’t hesitate to stab me in the back if they get the chance.”

Ozpin gave a small shake of the head at his friend’s antics before he brought out his own personal scroll as the man made his way towards the elevator.

“Be sure to give my regards to Junior when you see him. I do so enjoy some of his drinks on occasion.”

Qrow didn’t even look back as he threw back a hand in farewell and responded.

“Only if you tell old Ironpants I said hi.”

* * *

Emerald Sustri was sure that the last few hours had been utterly terrifying for herself and her partner Mercury. They had been in a smaller hideout as they waited for Torchwick to put the finishing touches on the accommodation that they would be staying at for the remainder of their time in Vale before it was time to infiltrate into Beacon.

While they had been constantly on the move for the past year or so, setting up all the little nuances for the plan that Cinder had concocted, they had finally had some down time due to the fact that there was literally nothing left for them to do.

Emerald had been sitting in their small apartment working on her sleight of hand with a deck of cards while Mercury had been polishing one of his extra legs. Cinder had been looking through her scroll, obviously trying to figure out if she had accounted for everything within her plan.

Emerald was sure that Cinder had the plan in hand and that they would be ready to implement as soon as was needed. With the Breach slowly coming into place and the White Fang getting into line, she was sure that they were about to take Vale by storm. She wasn’t completely aware of the endgame that Cinder was beginning to implement, but she trusted the raven haired vixen to have both her and Mercury’s best interest at heart despite her sometimes cold demeanor.

However, nothing, _nothing_ , could have prepared them for Cinder to suddenly completely tense up and let out a scream that just seemed… _unnatural_...before she succumbed to unconsciousness.

Emerald and Mercury spent a second just staring at their leader in dumbfounded shock, but they immediately burst into action when they realized that Cinder wasn’t moving.

After checking to make sure that her heart was beating and that she was in fact breathing, they deposited her in the small adjourning room to their apartment. The two then began to argue about what exactly they should be doing. While Mercury was of the opinion that she was fine and had maybe just remembered something weird before fainting, Emerald was sure that there must be something wrong. She had known Cinder for years now and she had never heard the woman _ever_ let out the sound that she had heard.

“I’m just saying that you’re just becoming a big worry wart. She’s fine and I’m sure that she’ll be up and about in just a little bit. Whatever happened messed with her somehow, but her vitals are stable and nothing should be wrong.”

Emerald felt her eyes narrow at the gray haired idiot. She had always known that he was partial to winding her up, but she had never thought that he would do it while Cinder could actually be hurt.

“I’m telling you, _dumbass_ , we need to make sure that she’s okay. Just because she’s breathing and just because her heart is beating, doesn’t mean that she’s totally fine. There could be any sort of problem that we don’t know about. This might also be some sort of backlash to her incomplete gaining of the Maiden powers. I don’t think it’s ever been half transferred like it had before, there might have been a serious problem.”

She felt a small amount of satisfaction as the gray haired idiot let out a small frown at her logic, but apparently even that wasn’t enough for him to fully commit.

“Even if that’s the case, how the hell are we going to explain that to a hospital?”

Emerald winced at that. She hated it when he actually was able to counter her own arguments with logic. It made her feel like she had missed something completely obvious. She glanced at the closed door before she looked back towards Mercury.

“If we need to, there’s always Torchwick.”

Mercury looked confused at her bringing up the thief.

“What _about_ Torchwick?”

Emerald tried to resist the urge to roll her eyes, but she just wasn’t strong enough to do so when she had to deal with the idiot.

“I _mean_ that the man definitely has contacts within the criminal underground that wouldn’t ask…too many questions.”

She felt quite vindicated as she saw the understanding dawn in her idiot partner’s gray eyes. He made a sort of hum in agreement at least.

“Then it’s decided, if she’s not up in the next few hours, we’ll make our way to Torchwick and see what he has to say about all this.”

However, before Mercury could agree, a velvety voice drifted from the doorway to the room, which Emerald was surprised had been opened silently.

“Oh Mercury, Emerald, it’s nice to know you care.”

Emerald and Mercury practically jumped to attention at the voice as they looked over to their leader. Cinder looked as though she was still feeling a bit under the weather, what with the bruises under her eyes and her hair plastered to her head in a distinctly _un_ -Cinderish way. It was with this concern that Emerald felt that she needed to question her leader.

“Are you _sure_ you’re okay? Not feeling as though there will be another fainting spell any time soon?”

Cinder merely let out a low chuckle at her concerned query.

“Oh Emerald…”

With that she looked up to both her and Mercury and Emerald felt herself let out a gasp as she was met with flamed ringed amber eyes.

“…I’ve never felt better.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well we've reached the point where we have caught up to what I have written, will probably be a little bit before I post the next chapter. If you haven't noticed I've also posted a DBZ work, one where Videl meets the characters earlier than in cannon. I'm pretty proud of that one so check it out if you're interested. In any case, thanks a bunch for the kudos, hits, and comments so far, if you're feeling kind please hit that kudos or comments button.
> 
> Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum! While Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo! Please support the official release!

**Author's Note:**

> FYI this is pretty much the same AN I put at the end of my ff.net post
> 
> Jesus Christ. There I go again, making some ridiculous length chapter to get my writing flowing more. I was beginning the next chapter of my DBZ fic, but when that wasn’t being pumped out like I wanted, I decided to explode this little story into existence. I haven’t done a 10,000 word count chapter in quite a while, but I knew it was going to be one of those around the 3,000 word mark.
> 
> In any case, I had been thinking about this idea for a bit now. I had been reading some Bleach fanfic, and then I realized that the core people who first invaded Soul Society were pretty much a four man team like the RWBY verse. I know Ishida was supposed to have lost his powers, but we’ll just pretend that he didn’t here, kay? Kay. I also have no idea what their team will be called while they’re at Beacon so if you have any suggestions, I’d be happy to hear them, just try to remember that the rule is they have to be some sort of color.
> 
> Time to field some questions that I anticipate coming. Ichigo’s Hollow? Still there, he’ll be around later. Ichigo’s Quincy/Fullbring abilities? Nope. As far as I’m concerned the Bleach manga was supposed to end as soon as Ichigo defeated Aizen and lost his powers. Bankai? Well, we’ll see. It’s pretty overpowered, but there might be a couple instance where he needs the extra speed or power. Is Ichigo and gang OP for this verse? Uh, yeah. Yeah they are. But I like some random interaction fics, so there will be lots of character interaction stuff. Also expect more intricate fights other than, they slashed the Grimm in two later on.
> 
> Welp, I think that’s all of the things I wanted to say, so if you’ve never read me before and this is the first fic you’ve seen of mine, then welcome and say hello to my usual spiel. Questions, comments, concerns? PM me! New story, no beta, a familiar woe for me. So any typos, grammar errors, or botch ups are because of that. If you’re feeling kind please leave a review (especially if you have a team name suggestion I’m kinda stumped, remember it has to follow the RWBY naming rules) or hit that fav/follow button. I think that’s all, onto the disclaimer, cuz at the bottom’s how I roll!
> 
> Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum! While Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo! Please support the official release!
> 
> P.S. BTW the Gen tag is only because I haven't figured out what pairings I wanna do quite yet.


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